Into The Nadir
by Laatija
Summary: Somewhere, within the depths of an injudicious city, darkness waits. Trouble is brewing and the fate of millions of people lies in the hands of a very unsuspecting colonel. Chaos has found him, now what will he do? Whump in abundance.
1. The Beginning

**Disclaimer: I do not own stargate…there, ya happy now?**

**The Story with No Name**

The man stood impatiently, arms crossed, foot tapping on the ground. He had made it through the two and a half hours of questioning and searching after flagging the security system, by complete accident, and then he had waited in line for nearly three hours for his turn to leave the city. The stargate waited in the distance, sitting on the wide out jutting platform, seeming to float above the majority of the city. It taunted him as the line moved slowly forward. Little by little though, people stepped up to the dialing device and punched in their addresses. The man stood behind a large, busy family. Little children darted in and out of the line causing their frenzied mother to shout out insults and threats at the top of her lungs while she juggled luggage and a crying baby in her arms. Finally, the officer took their passes and opened the gate for them to step onto the departure platform. The man sighed; he would be next. The stargate activated and the large family was ushered forward, stopping several times to chase after wayward children. Then they were through and the stargate shut down. The officer turned toward the man, took his pass and opened the gate.

The man allowed himself a small smile of relief as he stepped forward. But then an alarm blared. The man groaned, thinking he set it off again. But the running officers were not aiming for him. The stargate suddenly activated on its own. Two officers flanked the stargate, standing at attention. But then several balls of angry energy shot out of the blue event horizon. The crowd behind instantly started screaming and running. Chaos erupted violently on the platform. Uniformed men started running for the stargate, pushing past frantic travelers. The man thought that maybe they should shut the gate down but then they would probably think of that by now.

Suddenly, four people flew out of the stargate. Three of them were firing into it, hitting the ground hard, while the other stumbled forward, managing to keep his balance, while shouting "Shut it down! Shut it down!" as frantically and as loudly as he could. The gate did shut down only just allowing the last man to come all the way through. As soon as he stopped yelling, the first man stared around with wide eyes. The other three, two men and a woman, slowly pushed themselves up, taking a while to actually realize where they were. Slowly, the other three turned stared at the first man. The man in the back spoke first.

"I think you misdialed Rodney…" He said with an angry voice though he had a tight, _polite _smile plastered on his face.

The other man gave a nervous smile and waved at the ring of officers surrounding them. "Yeah, no kidding…"

oOo

"Rodney, where the heck are we?" John growled past his grin. He glanced down at his booted foot, the very tip of it neatly sheared off so that he could see the tips of his toes. It served to remind him how close he had come to being incinerated by the deactivated gate.

"I don't…know." Rodney stuttered. Ronon came up and whacked him upside the head.

"Way to go McKay." The big man snapped. Rodney dropped his fake smile.

"I'm sorry but there were wraith shooting at me at the time!" He snapped back.

"Hey!" John yelled. "Drop it, we'll just dial home, end of story."

"Yeah that's great Captain America but how do you figure on dialing when the DHD is _behind_ all the men with guns?"

"Perhaps we should lower our own weapons." Teyla suggested with a slight edge to her voice. A grin returned to Johns face.

"See, now somebody is thinking around here." Sheppard lowered his own gun and raised his hands up in a non threatening way. He stepped forward to address the nervous looking men in uniform. "Hi." He said with a smile. "We dialed the wrong number so if you'll just let us use the DHD, we'll be out of your hair in no time."

One of the uniformed men suddenly put a hand to his ear and stared off as if listening to an ear piece. Then he raised his gun. Ronon, still mentally in the heat of battle, raised his own and leveled it at the man.

"Down boy, down!" McKay hissed.

"Ronon! Put it down." Sheppard ordered in a firm voice. Ronon's lips twisted up in a feral grin for a few seconds, eyes still locked on the man, and then he slipped the gun back into its holster. John released a breath he didn't know he was holding and closed his eyes against an oncoming headache. Today was a bad day that showed all the signs of becoming worse. The wraith ambush was bad enough, the ensuing ten hour chase through the forest depleting all energy they had and then some. _Then_ Rodney just so happened to misdial them away to a not so friendly planet. And to top it all off, they hadn't slept at all in the past two days and, judging by the rising sun, they wouldn't get any sleep for a long while.

John's headache became worse.

The uniformed men had yet to say anything and it was making John angry. His anger must have been evident because Teyla placed a hand on his shoulder and muttered in his ear "Don't say anything…stupid."

He nodded as reassuringly as he could. "Hey guys?" He said to the uniformed men. "I'm _really _tired, I've been running for ten hours straight, I'm hungry and I'm sure I smell really bad so could we just get on with the pleasantries so I can go home?" He pleaded. Finally, one of the uniformed men stepped forward, looking nervous.

"By the order of Marklov, Sovereign of Brillez, you are under arrest for trespassing. Relinquish your weapons and stand ready for transport." He hefted his weapon threateningly and glared at them. John scowled but saw no way out of this. He finally sighed and unclipped his P-90 and let it drop to the ground. Then he pulled his sidearm out and tossed next to the other gun. He could hear the others doing the same. His hand hovered over his knife hilt but then he decided to let them take that one on their own if they really wanted it. Eight men came forward. Two of them stayed in front of John. One of those two kept a gun trained on him while the other quickly gathered up his weapons and placed them in a box. Then the man pulled out a small bluish disk the size of a bottle cap. He slowly approached John as if he were nearing a wild animal.

"Try to relax." The man murmured. John's eyes narrowed to slits as his watched the man slid up beside him. Then the man darted forward, slapping the disk to John's neck. John opened his mouth to yell at the man but then his muscles stopped working.

All of them.

All at once.

John's mind screamed in panic but his mouth failed to comply. He fell hard on the ground, muscles refusing to budge. He was starting to go into cardiac arrest as his heart struggled to keep moving. He couldn't breath. The man crouched down before him but was slightly out of view. John could hear an electronic beeping and then suddenly he could breathe again, his heart pumping as strongly as ever.

Then a hand came into view and pushed his eyelids down. Something rested over his ears to block out all noise. And so he lay there, deaf, blind and mute. He felt himself being manhandled onto something that moved. After a short trip on the moving thing, he was set onto a solid, non moving surface and left there.

The seconds ticked by with agonizing clarity in his dark, quiet world. It was maddening being unable to move…especially after he developed an itch in his left elbow. It was even more maddening to not be able to sleep due to the ever growing ache in his joints and muscles from being frozen in the same place. It was even more maddening still, to not know how much time was passing. It felt like hours, bordering on days, but he could have easily imagined it in his sensory deprived state.

John passed the time with a one sided game of Prime/not Prime until he got angry at himself for cheating. Then he got through the '99 Bottles' song twice before he lulled himself into a sort of sleep, his last thought being _Well, this day really sucks…_

oOo

TBC…

You know the drill, Read and review…read and **review**….don't for get the review!


	2. And You Think this is Bad?

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A/N: Surprise! An early chapter! This is just to get the ball rolling on this story… Enjoy!**

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Admare paced nervously in front of the large window that took up most of the wall. It overlooked the vast city below. It made Admare nervous. He felt exposed. An assassin's bullet could easily penetrate the glass, no matter how thick it was. Such were the advancements in weaponry. Being as high as he was only served to expose him more. The lofty position flashed like a strobe light to anyone looking. The man found the urge to sink down to the lower levels of the city where he could hide in the many nooks and crannies found there. There he could hide from prying eyes. And high powered weapon scopes. Assassination from afar wasn't the only way to go. Admare knew this. But just because he could be killed as easily some other way didn't mean he was going to parade himself in front of a sniper.

The city was huge. Mind numbingly huge. Hundreds of miles in circumference and several miles deep, buildings and streets built on top of each other until the top levels of them reached high into the heavens. Each level down seemed to get poorer and wilder until the ground levels were populated by little more than scavengers and beasts. But then, you didn't travel to the lower levels of the city unless you had a death wish for yourself. Or unless you had a death wish for an assassin.

Such an assassin would probably know some survival skills to keep himself alive but one had to have some inkling of hope to grasp onto. Admare prided himself on his survival instincts. He felt confident that he could survive the lower levels if it came down to it.

But for now, he would bide his time. No need to go running into danger unless danger itself was chasing you. As of right now, the danger was most likely in his head. No one could possibly have figured out his plan at this point. They would later of course. They always did. It was then that Admare would run and hide. And not get killed.

A soft knock on the massive wooden doors pulled Admare from his nervous pacing. He took a shuddering breath and looked at his reflection in the glass. The man staring back had disheveled hair. Drops of sweat rolled down his pasty face. He tugged out a wrinkled piece of cloth from his pocket and mopped up the moisture. He pulled splayed fingers through his hair and straightened his jacket for good measure.

The knock came again, more agitated this time. Three sharp knocks. _Rap rap rap. _Admare imagined they sounded far too much like the noise a silenced bullet makes when leaving a gun muzzle. _Pheft pheft pheft. _Sweat popped out of his pores and dribbled down his face again. And again, he dragged the nearly soaked cloth across his face.

The knocking came yet again, _Rap rap rap… pheft pheft pheft_, this time it was followed by a slightly nervous _"Sir? Master Admare?"_

Admare took another deep breath to still his quaking hands. He sat firmly in his large chair and cleared his throat. "Come." He commanded, cringing as his voice cracked ever so slightly. One of the tall wooden doors opened slowly, groaning from its own weight. A woman poked her head into the room.

"Master Admare?" It was a smallish woman, one of Marklov's assistants. Admare sneered.

"Yes?" He asked brusquely. The woman swallowed nervously as she crept into the room. Admare inwardly smiled at the level of fear he could strike into the hearts of people below him. The woman scurried forward and bowed awkwardly.

"The Chief of Security would like to speak with you." She told him. He cocked his head and fixed her with a glare.

"And?" He demanded. The woman's eyes went wide and she sputtered.

"He…he would…l-like to see you in the...um…in his office." She babbled than stood quaking before him. He nodded to himself. Something big must have happened to have the Chief of Security calling him down to his office. The man was rarely in his office unless there was something going on that required him to have a base of operations. There was a twinge of fear that the Chief wanted to see him because of…well…that didn't bare thinking about.

Admare realized the woman was still standing before him. He shooed her off with a wave of his hand and went back to musing, deciding that being fashionably late would be appropriate for this occasion.

oOo

Consciousness returned to Sheppard none too gently. Actually, it returned like a herd of stampeding elephants. Stampeding elephants that used his body as a yo-yo as stomach muscles were suddenly released from their unnatural paralysis. After the first wave of nausea passed, John was bombarded by the pain from his previously frozen limbs. But the pain was soon forgotten as another wave of nausea hit him. John lost the battle and what little nutrients he had in his stomach were soon on the floor. He moaned miserably and rolled onto his back, discovering for the first time that he was lying on his side with both legs awkwardly splayed out, one arm above his head, and the other lying on his face. John felt oddly detached from the rest of his body as he lifted his arm and it moved away from his face as if controlled by some outside force.

John groaned, fighting back yet another wave of nausea while trying to figure out what was going on around him. He started to shake as he fought for control of his body. Water started to fall, which confused him even more. There were rough hands holding him, scrubbing him, hurting him. He opened his mouth to curse only to have it suddenly full of vomit that he was spewing on the ground.

Finally, he got back some degree of control over his muscles and used that control to launch himself backward and out of the grasp of whomever was holding him. He backed up until his back hit the wall and he stayed there, panting and shaking as his body got over the shock of extreme paralysis. John finally looked up to see two people in front of him. Water sprayed out of a showerhead in the wall. The two people, a man and a woman, were both covered in plastic looking coats and armed with scrub brushes. John stared at them and suddenly realized, between dry heaves, that the woman was holding his clothes. He hunkered down as far as he could into the corner and narrowed his eyes at them.

"Hi… Can I…um, have my clothes back?" His eyebrows quirked up. "I mean, you don't want your prisoner to catch cold or anything. Unle—" He heaved again, his stomach pulling up a mouthful of bile which he spat off to the side. The man walked up to him and pulled him back into the water. John didn't protest as his limbs felt like jello. The water was warm and soothing, washing away the grime that was caked on his body. He was soon pulled from the water and roughly dried off. Then he was given a simple pair of black pants and a matching shirt and no shoes.

"Follow me." The man ordered then promptly moved off, letting John force his stiff legs to move fast enough to follow. They moved through a maze of hallways until they came to a large room that reminded John of a throne room without the throne. The black floor was smooth and mirror like as if someone had waxed it one too many times. The room was brightly lit due to the large windows that covered the majority of the walls. The bits of wall that were visible were painted a deep red color. A few benches were scattered about the room but it was mostly void of furniture.

Rodney, Teyla and Ronon were already there, sitting in the corner and looking none to happy. The rest of the room was empty. John was pushed inside and the door was shut and locked behind him.

"Its about time you got here, we were starting to get worried." Rodney quipped. John shrugged.

"I stopped by starbucks on my way here. It was a long line." He said dryly.

"Oh did you get us anything?" Rodney said with mock hope. John shrugged again.

"It was a _long_ line."

"Well, it's not like my stomach could handle anything right now anyway." The scientist said with a sigh. John noticed how green the man looked and how still he sat.

"You too?" He asked as he found a seat along the wall.

"Mm, it seems that being paralyzed and then _un_paralyzed like that is hard on the stomach." Rodney said with a frown.

"How 'bout you two?" John said, looking at Teyla and Ronon. The Sateden just glared at him. Teyla nodded.

"I am feeling _very_ ill." She informed him.

"I can think of a dozen better ways to be captured." Ronon growled.

John gave a half hearted grin. "I never thought I'd actually prefer being stunned."

The door to the room opened and two men walked through it. John pushed himself up and stepped forward. The first man had a fake smile on his face as he walked up to the four Lantians.

"Greetings. I am Rolend, Chief of Security. This is Master Admare." He said, gesturing towards a short, sweaty man. "I am certain you have many questions. Let me first ask who you are and then the reason you have come to our magnificent city unannounced."

Sheppard took a deep breath and let is hiss out slowly before answering. "Ok, I'm Lt. Colonel John Sheppard; this is Dr.Rodney McKay, Ronon Dex and Teyla Emmagan." John wondered briefly how many times he had said those words. "We didn't actually mean to come here. We were being pursued by an enemy when we dialed out and we obviously miss-dialed." The sweaty man, Admare, snorted and muttered something under his breath. "Look," John said firmly. "This was a mistake and one we can fix if you just let us dial home."

Rolend nodded to himself. "A believable story, to be sure. I would certainly like to believe it. However, it is not that simple. There will be an investigation conducted to prove your story. It will be in your best interest to provide as much information as you can to help this investigation along. You will be detained in a civil holding house until your innocence is proven or until you are proven guilty in which case Marklov, Sovereign of Brillez, will determine your fate." The Chief of Security turned to Admare. "Master Admare, do you acknowledge that these four people have been given clear explanation as to their fate and will you stand as a witness before Marklov, Sovereign of Brillez?"

"Yes." Admare said plainly. John narrowed his eyes at them.

"It's nice that you're trying to be all official and everything but I really need to contact my superiors. If I don't, then they'll send a team out to look for us and when they do find us, which they will, they will _not_ be happy to see that we are being held like this." John said in a threatening tone. The smile dropped from Rolends face.

"Our offer to be civil can most certainly be withdrawn. I know you are all very familiar with our tactics for transporting and detaining suspected criminals. This can be implemented at anytime should you not comply with our laws. Given the length in time that you may be detained, this tactic would be _most_ unpleasant for you. You are only offered civility now because of the amount of truth that may be in your story." The threat in Rolends speech did not fall on deaf ears. John's face twitched in effort to hold back the _less_ than civil words that were begging to spill out of his mouth. Rolend didn't bother to wait for those words to burst forth.

"An escort will arrive shortly to take you to the holding house." He said sharply then turned on his heels and marched out of the room. Admare stayed for a moment to stare at the Lantians. Ronon took a step forward.

"You got anything more to say?" He growled low. The man's eyes flicked over to study him. A malicious glint flared up briefly then died away. He left without a word.

John glanced around at his team. They were all seething.

"So," Rodney said dryly. "How do we get out of _this_ one?"

* * *

To Be Continued…

Please be so kind as to review!...pretty please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?


	3. Furry Lemurs and Tigers on Crack

oOo

The escort soon came and whisked them off in a roofless hovercraft. Rodney leaned back in his seat and glanced around at the city. Massive buildings reached up into the sky. The walkways and suspended roads that connected the tops of the buildings were just barely visible. Rodney glanced down to see their own 'road' ended in a sharp drop off along the sides. The next level down was more easily seen then the one above them. People crowded in along the road, fighting various vehicles for space. It appeared to be the ground level of a normal city as its roads and walkways didn't end in drop offs but instead, they seemed spread out to connect all the buildings from all angles.

Rodney tapped the shoulder of their driver. "Hey, how many levels down does this city go? And what level are we on now?"

"We are on the second level. The city is very deep; the actual number of levels is unknown." The driver explained.

"Are the other levels cut off from fresh air and sunlight?" Teyla asked.

"Mostly. There are large vents and tunnels all over the place to ensure fresh air gets down to the lower levels and there is equipment to monitor the oxygen levels just in case. Light doesn't get down there naturally so artificial lighting is necessary." The man explained.

"You sound like you've said all this before." John remarked. The man smiled.

"Working on the upper levels gives me an opportunity to talk with many travelers who ask these questions." He explained.

"So level three is the last level to get sunlight?" Ronon asked.

"Yes, it is where most trading and upper-class commerce takes place. The secondary docking bay is also located on that level as well as many upper-class schools and homes. Level two, where we are now, is the government level where all of our secondary leaders reside. Our military base, the city police, and the more prestigious businesses are also on the second level as well as the wealthy citizens."

"And the top?" John asked.

"Marklov, Sovereign of Brillez, resides there. It is also the center of travel with the main docking bay and the stargate being there."

"It must not be easy to maintain." Ronon muttered. The driver heard his comment.

"We have a large working class that is capable of keeping most levels in working condition."

"_Most_ of the levels?" Rodney's eyebrow shot up.

"The lowest levels are lost now. Anyone who dares to go down there is either crazy or sentenced to death." The driver spoke with a kind of fearful respect.

"What is so terrifying about the lower levels?" Teyla asked, her curiosity evident. The driver glanced over his shoulder and regarded her with a piercing gaze as if he was judging whether or not he wanted to tell her his story.

"It is said that there is a race of mutant beasts, half human, half…something else. They pray upon any live thing that finds its way to the lower levels. They are hairless, eyeless creatures with long fangs and claws. When I was a boy, my friends and I traveled down to level 43, the lowest that anyone had gone at the time. There we encountered one of the beasts. It chased us to the transporters and nearly caught my brother." The driver turned dramatically turned his attention back to the road, barely swerving in time to miss a particularly large hovercraft. McKay rolled his eyes.

"And no one has gone down to explore the levels?" John asked.

"Only one expedition has ever dared to go down there. They have never returned." The driver explained in a hushed voice.

"Of course they haven't." Rodney muttered. "And now you're going to tell me that Big Foot lives down there."

"Perhaps…" The drivers' eyes flashed. Rodney opened his mouth to speak but John beat him to it.

"Rodney, lighten up. It's just a story." He told the scientist.

"Lighten up? My stomach feels like it's been on a rollercoaster for the past three days and, oh yeah, we were arrested. Don't tell me to lighten up." Rodney snapped, his voice gaining in volume. John didn't push the matter. The scientist didn't deal with things internally like John did. And Rodney was right. They had no reason to be taking anything lightly at the moment.

The driver was glaring at them. John glared right back. "What?"

"You…you are criminals." The driver muttered. _Now_ John was irked.

"No." He snapped. "We were arrested for a _mistake_. We are _not_ criminals." The driver didn't seem to be convinced. He turned back to driving. Sheppard sighed and closed his eyes against an oncoming headache. "This day just gets better and better…" He muttered.

Teyla suddenly looked confused…or alarmed. "How often do the Wraith come to this planet?" She asked. The driver twisted around to ogle her.

"The wraith? A hiveship is often in orbit. Though I have not seen many wraith beyond the docking bays." The man explained as if it were the most normal thing in the universe. John shared a concerned glance with the others. But no one could say anything.

The rest of the trip was spent in silence for the most part. A few attempts were made at conversation but they didn't get far. Any feelings of ease they might have had were quickly dashed when they pulled up to a squat, windowless building. It was a solid dull gray color. Even though the city itself was painted in nothing but shades of gray, this building seemed out of place. It seemed cold and unwelcoming. Very little traffic came through this part of the city, pedestrians were nonexistent. Four armed men came out of the plain solid white door. The hovercraft pulled up next to them and the door to the craft opened automatically. As it opened, the first two armed men pointed their weapons at the Lantians.

"Out." One man ordered. John pursed his lips together and gave the guards a hapless smirk before climbing out. The four Lantians were ushered inside, a guard behind each of them. The building inside was just as mundane and boring as it was on the outside. A long nondescript hallway stretched out before them with several doors on either side of it. The guard next to Teyla herded her through one of the doors on the right side. Rodney, Ronon, and John were directed into a room on the left. Their room was large and contained four cells that had clear, glass-like walls.

After John was shoved into one he got the distinct feeling that he was an animal in the zoo…not a furry little lemur either, he felt like a caged tiger. A caged tiger behind soundproof glass so that his keepers didn't have to hear him ranting and raving about how very _un_civil this 'housing' was. A glance over at Ronon proved that John was not alone in his sentiment. In fact, Ronon looked like a tiger on crack, ready to claw down the thick glass that separated him from the guards. Rodney just glowered behind his barrier…almost looking like a turtle from the way he sat hunched over on the cold bench in the corner. John could only imagine what Teyla looked like…

oOo

**TBC…**


	4. I'm Gonna Make You an Offer

A/N: Ha ha, i_ just_ posted the wrong chapter a few seconds ago! oops!

Anywho, this wonderfully early chapter is part one of ya'lls christmas present! Enjoy!

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Admare watched their 'visitors' from a monitor in Rolend's office. He watched as the three obvious warriors became restless in their cramped spaces. The other man, a scientist or doctor no doubt, hardly moved from his spot on the bench. They were a curious people for certain. The tale that each one spun, while completely in sync, was a wild one to be sure. Such a brash encounter with the Wraith was not often heard of these days…at least they weren't heard of in this part of the galaxy.

"What did you find at the planet they came from?" Admare asked. The Chief of Security cocked his head as he stared at the screens.

"Evidence of a fire fight as well as several Wraith corpses…and a few live Wraith as well." Rolend spread his hands wide. "It checks out." He said simply. Admare snorted.

"Did you dial their home planet?"

"Yes and I talked with a Colonel Carter. She was very surprised and vexed that her team is here. I am fully convinced that them coming here was in fact a mistake." Rolend turned to look at Admare. "I am going to Marlov this evening to talk with him about this."

Admare just nodded. And left. He stalked out of Rolends office, mind blank. He figured that was probably the last time he would have a friendly conversation with the man. The next time Admare saw him, he would probably be behind soundproof glass if he wasn't dead already.

As he strolled down the hallway, he started to enjoy the things he passed. Like the stain glass windows. They were lovely windows, bathing the hall in shades of orange and yellow and red. It made the hall very comforting. Admare imagined he wanted to be captured in this hallway. In the peaceful hallway. It would almost be a symbol of what he was sacrificing. He was sacrificing his peace so that Brillez would have peace. Peace was something that certain people in power were willing to throw away for the sake of humanity.

Admare wanted peace for this city. He didn't _really_ want to sacrifice himself, but he would. He would sacrifice his sanity and his life for peace.

Admare stopped walking.

He didn't _have_ to sacrifice himself if someone else was there to take the fall. Someone he could frame…

oOo

"An some…dirty dog put glue in…m'saddle…In m'saddle! In m'saddle! Oh some dirty dog put glue in…m'saddle…" John's impromptu song faded out and he puffed his cheeks up with air out of sheer boredom. It had been nearly two full days since they had been arrested and thus far, only one person had come in to question them on what happened and John was starting to think that their idea of 'investigation' was completely twisted.

The lights blinked out, dropping a heavy black veil before John's eyes. It was the only reason that John knew it was night time. They came back on again eight hours later. The night before was a restless one in which Sheppard didn't get any sleep at all. But tonight his nerves had calmed somewhat and he felt sleep pulling heavily at him. With a long, drawn out sigh, he stretched out on his bench and let his eyelids slide shut. Sleep took over him instantly.

And then promptly dropped him on his butt when an all too familiar disk was pressed onto his neck and paralysis took over his muscles.

_What the crap!_ He thought irritably.

"I have a deal to make with you." A voice hissed low in his ear. "You and your team will be executed at dawn. You will not escape this punishment. But I have a proposition that will ensure the safety of your team. I am going to free you but I have a weapon pointed at your head."

John's muscles were released and he suddenly felt like he had been sucker punched. He slowly rolled up into a ball and rode out the nausea that gripped his stomach.

A gun muzzle was pressed up against his head. "What are you willing to do for the safety of your team?"

John slowly lifted his head and tried to make out the shadowy form standing before him but it was far to dark to see. "Anything." He mumbled. And he felt he would do anything to make sure his team stayed alive.

"You do exactly what I say and I will ensure their survival." The voice said. John felt he should up the ante.

"You make sure they get back to our home planet and I'll do anything you say." He offered. "And I want to see the gate dialed and them walk through it before I do anything for you." John wasn't really thinking. He had the sole goal of getting his team home and, at the moment, this seemed like the best way. Otherwise, they were toast. Of that he had no doubt due to the way they had been treated thus far.

"I will arrange it. You will receive further instruction at the appropriate time. Do not even attempt to inform anyone of this meeting, this includes your friends. Do you understand me?"

John thought this man must either be desperate or able to kill them all at a moments notice. He found himself nodding then remembered that there was no light to see by. "Got it. When is this going down?" He asked.

"Soon." Was the answer. The gun muzzle left his forehead and John heard the faint click of a door latch. He sat up on the bench and slowly lowered his head into his hands, wondering what he had just done. For all he knew, the authorities were just about to release them. On the other hand, his mysterious guest might have been telling the truth. Sheppard hated not knowing the situation. But he had to work with the hand that had been dealt and this particular hand was a crappy one. Thinking back over things now, he didn't know how he could have possible done anything different. And now he was committed. But that didn't mean he couldn't try to think of a way out of whatever he had gotten himself into and still ensure the safety of his team.

Sleep would be a long time in coming.

oOo

Rolend clutched tightly to his case as he maneuvered around the crowded tables. He finally located the table he was after and slid into one of the chairs. Marklov sat in front of him, holding a tall opaque glass.

"Good evening Chief Rolend." Marklov said. He was a large man with thick red hair and a deep voice that penetrated the very core of a person. Rolend nodded politely.

"Evening." He pushed the case towards the man. "I've reached a conclusion. I only wait on your approval to release the new prisoners." Marklov reached out a meaty hand to grab the case and set it down on the floor beside him.

"I will review it and get back to you in the morning." He assured the Chief of Security. "Now," He lowered his voice. "did you send a team down to level 60?" Marklov asked. Rolend kept his face calm but couldn't help his shaking hands.

"They were able to make it down and assessed the situation there. Kampfer and her team await my command on level 43." The Chief informed him.

"When will they be able to strike?"

"After I give the order, two days." Rolend hid his hands under the table.

Marklov nodded. "Do it as soon as possible." Rolend sighed.

"Sir, I still do not think it's wise to destroy the oper—"

"This is not open for debate." Marklov growled. "I will not allow this illicit operation to continue."

"But is it wise to stop it now?" Rolend challenged. Marklov fixed him with a stern glare.

"This will _not_ continue." He said slowly then pushed away from the table. "I'll speak with you in the morning about the prisoners."

Rolend watched as the other man left. A feeling of dread slowly dropped like a five pound weight in his gut.

* * *

To Be Continued….ooo the plot thickens…. 


	5. Bang Bang Shoot 'Em Up

**A/N: Suprise again! This is part two of ya'lls Christmas present! ****Big thanks to all who reviewed!**

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oOo

Sheppard was lying on his back and staring at the ceiling long after the lights came back on. He didn't even bother looking over at Rodney or Ronon as his mind was still racing around in circles from the night before. The faint click and hiss of the door opening made him jump.

"Out." A voice ordered. John rolled lazily off the bench and onto his feet, shuffling out of his clear cell with a guard right behind him. Ronon and Rodney were already waiting for him with escorts of their own.

"Good morning." John mumbled sarcastically. Ronon grunted. Rodney just rolled his eyes.

"Mmm, I wish. Think they'll provide breakfast for us?" He asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. They were ushered forward. "Hey, what was with you earlier?" McKay asked. John glanced at him sideways.

"Were you watching me?" He asked.

"Well, it's not like there was much else to do." Rodney snapped.

"That's _really_ creepy McKay." Sheppard said with eyebrows scrunched together.

"Seriously though, you were looking depressed earlier." Rodney said.

"I…had a bad night." John insisted.

"Oh yes because you had so much to do when the lights went out."

"Drop it." Sheppard snapped. Rodney raised his hands in defense.

"Fine fine."

They were soon joined by Teyla and the four walked in silence to the hovercraft that waited for them outside. A heavy, foreboding mood seemed to settle on them all as they climbed into their seats. Teyla attempted to spread some cheer with a smile but the attempt failed miserably.

The sky was gray and overcast, blending in with the bland tones of the city and adding to the depressed mood. A thick fog suddenly blew up from below and covered the roadways causing their driver to slow down to almost a crawl. The fog was so dense that John could barely see where Teyla and Ronon were sitting across from him. The air had a noxious smell to it that grew in potency by the second and made them gag. But Ronon saw it as an opportunity. He slid up next to John and talked in his ear.

"You have a plan yet?" The Sateden asked quietly. "Because this fog is great cover." John swallowed nervously. He wasn't delusional; he had seen the size of the city. If they bolted now, there was a better chance of a marshmallow stopping a charging elephant then them making it to the gate alive. And all hope of them being seen as innocent would be thrown out the window. If they stayed put, then John could assure his teams safety but not his own.

Decisions decisions. Only there was no decision.

"Sheppard?" Ronon was looking at him eagerly. There was only one option with a decent chance of the others walking out alive and it didn't involve them jumping out of a moving vehicle.

"I have a plan…sort of." John confessed.

"Well?"

"I can't exactly tell you just yet. It would ruin the plan." John insisted. "Do you trust me?"

The big man nodded. "Yeah. You better know what you're doing."

"I do." John lied. "I do…"

A clear canopy slid over the hovercraft, shutting out the misty atmosphere while the fog remaining in the craft was vented out. Rodney was leaning over the drivers' seat and talking a mile a minute.

"So does that fog come up often?" He asked. Their driver turned exasperated eyes towards the others.

"Yes." The man muttered.

"Is it dangerous? Cause, I mean, it smelled dangerous." Rodney's voice took on a hysterical tone.

"No." The driver said flatly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"But I don't think—"

"Rodney." John snapped. "Leave the man alone."

The scientist crossed his arms and huffed. The sight _almost_ made John smile.

Roadways were starting to clear as the fog drifted up higher, settling seven feet above their heads. The hovercraft sped forward only to slow again as they approached what looked like a giant industrial elevator. The vehicle slowly crawled up on it. Sheppard was expecting a great jolt before they lifted up and he braced himself for it. But before he realized what has happening, they were already whizzing upward in a steady smooth climb. It was a fairly long trip despite them only going one level up. Rodney glanced down and instantly turned a shade of green. John peeked over the edge of the roadway and noticed a thick blanket of fog a good ways down. He realized they were at top level of the city. Then his vision was cut off as they entered a tunnel of sorts.

The vehicle slowed down considerably as it pulled up towards a short staircase that led to an elaborate door. Two men with an escort of guards stood at the bottom of the stairs. John recognized the two men from three days ago when they first got there. As the four Lantians climbed the stairs, they were separated, again, and led to small but comfortable rooms. And then left there.

For hours.

John had grown tired and curled up on the comfy sofa in one corner. He was well on his way to a much needed nap when he heard his door open softly then close again before he had a chance to open his eyes. When he did eventually open them, he saw a small wrapped bundle just inside the door. Curiosity triggered, he pushed himself up from his warm couch and snagged the bundle and tugged the cloth wrapping off of it. A note fluttered to the floor leaving John holding a small gun. He stared at it, the small knot of dread that had settled in his stomach suddenly ballooning to monumental proportions. Johns burning glare turned towards the note on the floor which he squatted down to pick it up.

_Kill Marklov._

He blinked, his heart pounding. John read it again. Then once more. Two words; no details, no explanation. Two words…

And a gun.

His hands started to shake. John had been waiting for word from his late night visitor but he hadn't been expecting anything so cryptic… or violent. He honestly hadn't been expecting something like this. He was being told to kill someone. Someone he didn't even know. He was expected to go up to a complete stranger and shoot him.

And kill him.

But he couldn't possibly do that. John flat out decided that there was no way he would be able to go up to someone who had done him no harm and kill him. But what would happen if he didn't kill the man? What would happen to his team?

John sat heavily on the couch, still staring at the weapon. His mind was spinning in circles. But he didn't get far in his thinking before the door to his room burst open. Without thinking, he shoved the gun in his waistband and pulled his shirt over it. The man standing outside of the room was beckoning to him.

John was led through a series of corridors and into a lavish office. A desk sat at one end of it and a large man sat behind the desk. The walls of the room were nothing but windows, giving a grand view of the massive city below. John couldn't help but notice the stargate on a platform not far from the building they were in now. He could see it clearly from where he stood in the office. The sight of it sent a pang of longing through his gut that mixed with dread to make him feel down right horrible.

"Sit down Colonel Sheppard." The man ordered. John sat heavily in a plush chair before the desk. The man was talking but John couldn't hear anything he was saying. His eyes were still locked on the stargate. It activated, the blue event horizon whooshing out across the platform. He found himself smiling dumbly.

"Colonel Sheppard?" A commanding voice snapped him out of his stupor. The large man was staring at him.

"Sorry." Sheppard mumbled. The man nodded.

"I'm sure this has been very wearisome for you and your team. However, this is the way we process potential criminals and I do not apologize for the way you were treated." The man said. John's eyes wandered over his desk while the man rambled on about treatment of prisoners. They suddenly focused on a name plate on his desk: Marklov. His pulse quickened. Then he remembered his agreement from the night before. _And I want to see the gate dialed and them walk through it…_

Marklov had stopped talking and was looking at him with kind eyes. "We have found you to be innocent." John blinked.

"What?" He asked.

"We have found you to be innocent. In fact, I have already met with the other members of your team. They are already preparing to walk through the gate." Marklov smiled. A spark of hope shot through him and John thought that he might be able to worm his way out of his previous agreement. But there was still a sense of hidden danger lingering in the back of his mind.

"So…am I free to go?" John asked anxiously. He could feel the gun slowly slip down his back beneath the shirt. The other man nodded, rising and thrusting his hand forward to grasp Johns in a handshake. The spark of hope grew into a warm blaze that chased away his dread. But that still didn't quell his anxiousness to leave.

Sheppard shot up and turned to go. He almost reached the door when it opened and another man walked in. John instantly noticed how nervous the man looked as he shuffled in and shut the door firmly behind him, locking it with shaking fingers.

"Master Admare?" Marklov's voice took on a deep, commanding tone. The man, Admare, just stared at John, who couldn't help but glare at the man as if he was forcing John to stay behind. And it wasn't far from the truth.

"You were trying to break our agreement." Admare hissed. John's eyes went wide, his hope brutally murdered.

"Admare!" Marklov yelled across the room. "What is the meaning of this?" Without looking over at the other man, Admare pulled a gun out and pointed it at him.

"You will never get away with this Admare." Marklov growled. Admares lips twisted upward.

"All of the security cameras are turned off. They won't turn on again unless a disturbance is detected or unless I turn them on." Admare muttered. John instantly saw several holes and opportunities to stop this mad man.

"I'm not going to shoot him." John insisted. "If you do, then I'm guessing that when the cameras come back on, they'll see you holding the gun. You can't win this one. Put the gun down." He held out a hand for the weapon.

"Look out the window." Admare commanded. John's eyebrow quirked up and the feeling of dread expanded in his stomach. "Look out the window!" The man commanded again. John shuffled over to the window with heavy legs. He looked out at the stargate platform and saw his team standing around the activated gate.

"I can call down to the guards and order them to fire upon your team. Or I can order them to send your people through. They await my command." Admare said slowly. Marklov sputtered and ranted but neither John nor Admare were paying much attention to him.

"I'm your scapegoat." John mumbled to himself. Admare looked at him quizzically. Then he lifted a radio type gadget to his lips.

"Send the Lantians through in two minutes." He ordered. John cocked his head.

"Somehow I don't think your going to follow through with that." Sheppard said dryly. His eyes narrowed. A sick grin split Admares sweaty pale face.

"You have less than two minutes to kill him before I order the men to open fire on your team." Admare growled. He pointed the gun at John and held the radio close to his lips.

John cursed the situation. He glanced over at Marklov. The man was red faced and looked like he was about to explode. He was staring at Admare with hard eyes. John promptly avoided those eyes. All options out of this mess were quickly dwindling down to only one. Sheppard _could_ rush Admare if the man didn't have a gun pointed at him. He _could _refuse to do anything and try to distract the man…

"Why are yo—"

"One minute!" Admare shouted, spittle flying past his lips. John yanked the gun out and leveled it at Marklov. But how could he kill a man in cold blood? How could he let Admare kill his team? John started to panic. He couldn't do he?

"Colonel Sheppard? Colonel Sheppard!" Marklov was yelling at him. John stared at him, his chest heaving with panicked breath. "Colonel Sheppard, a commanders duty is to his country first and his team second." Marklov was looking at him with resigned eyes. Which made the situation all the worse. John couldn't possibly kill the man now. He felt like a monster. His hand started to shake.

"Ten…nine…eight…" Admare started counting down. "Five…four…thre—"

_**BAM

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**_

TBC…

**You wanna know what i want for Christmas? I want a review from each person who signed up for a story alert... pretty pretty please? See i was nice and gave you not one but TWO early chapters! The least you can do is review...please?**


	6. Snap Crackle Pop

**A/N: Huge thanks for all the reviews! Ya'll helped to make my Christmas all the more wonderful!**

**Oh and I've thought of a name for this story ****Into The Nadir**** …There ya go spookysister7**

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Rodney played with the hem of his shirt for a moment then gazed around at the platform. A crowd had gathered in as close as possible to see them as the Lantians prepared to leave. Ronon fidgeted nervously. Teyla just stood calmly to the side. 

"Something's wrong." Ronon growled. "He shouldn't be taking this long."

"Perhaps it is simply taking longer because he is the leader?" Teyla suggested. Rodney nodded.

"Yes I'm sure they have lots to talk about." He insisted.

"I don't like it." Ronon huffed.

"Oh yes?" Rodney snorted. "Now which part don't you like? Was it being paralyzed after running from the wraith for a day or was it being held in a glass box for two?" Ronon scowled.

A uniformed officer walked up to them. "Its time for you to leave." He told them.

"We're waiting for someone." Ronon said. The officer pulled out his weapon.

"I was ordered to send you through. Please don't struggle."

Ronon started forward with a growl but Teyla pulled him back. "We can wait just as well from the gate room." She muttered low. Ronon hesitated for a moment then turned around and stomped through the gate. Rodney exchanged a worried look with Teyla then followed the big man. Teyla glanced around once more, her eyes lingering on the tallest spire that jutted up to be level with the high platform. Then she turned and disappeared through the blue event horizon.

oOo

John stood shivering in his crapped space. He gave up on sitting long ago as the damp floor only made matters worse. Besides which, there was hardly any room to sit. Standing put more space between him and the freezing floor. Only his bare, bruised feet touched the cold surface. And they had gone numb long ago. But he could take the cold and the hurt; it served to dull the guilt that gnawed at him relentlessly.

Sheppard's eyes glazed over, staring at nothing.

_The gun was still smoking as John lowered his arm… An alarm was blaring. Men were rushing in… shouting. He glanced out the window just in time to see Teyla step through the gate. And then he was subdued and paralyzed without struggle on his part. The last image before they closed his eyes was of Marklov, lying in a pool of blood before him…_

**BAM**

A guard walked away from John's cramped cell, scowling and holding a long cudgel against the bars of the cell for a moment longer. John turned his eyes away and leaned back against the only solid wall of his cell.

The cell. It was a far cry from the civil holding houses they had been taken to earlier. John wasn't too surprised at the change of attitude. He was a criminal now. He had killed their leader. They were far from civil now. Actually, they were downright barbaric, in a strange advanced sort of way.

_Admare towered above him on a highly placed seat. It was for intimidation but John was beyond any intimidation this man could muster. He stood tall, ready to take any punishment without argument. John had already tried to plead his case of blackmail and had tried to point fingers at Admare but no one would have anything to do with it. _

_And now Admare was pointing fingers at him. "The criminal is sentenced to a week in the city prison. He will endure corporal punishment as often as the guards deem necessary. At the end of the week, he will be banished to the lower levels."_

A loud scream of pain reverberated down the halls, tearing Johns mind away from his memories for a moment. He glanced down the hallway out of habit but couldn't see anything but dark, musty walls and flooded floors. Hardly a prison. More like a dank pit.

The guard walked by again, accompanied by another man. They stopped this time at John's cell. John's face scrunched up.

"That time already?" He asked grimly. He remembered his first day here…the day before yesterday. Their 'corporal punishment' wasn't nearly as eloquent as it sounded. They beat him; plain and simple. For hours. So much for the city being advanced.

"Out." The first guard ordered. John sighed heavily. He shuffled out, limping heavily on an ankle he was sure was fractured. The guards showed little sympathy. Apparently, everyone he came in contact with now seemed to have really liked Marklov, except for Admare of course, and now everyone really hated his guts.

The guard shoved John and he stumbled forward, hissing in pain. He was shoved again and John gritted his teeth to keep from crying out.

"I'm going." He snapped.

"Shut up." The guard growled. They finally got fed up with his slow pace and ended up dragging him the rest of the way. They pulled him into a small square room and shackled his arms to a short chain hanging from the ceiling then they shackled his feet to the floor. The chain above his head was pulled tight, stretching his body out until his skin was a taut as a drumhead.

John clenched his jaws tight and focused on a spot on the wall. One guard remained at the door, staring at Sheppard with hard, hate filled eyes. The other guard walked around behind him. Each heavily booted footfall landed with a wet squelch that seemed to grate against John's eardrums. There was a sound of leather slapping against damp concrete. John's heart beat faster and he started to sweat despite the calm that he tried to force on himself. He imagined the guard pulling the whip into a lose coil. In his minds eye he could see the mans arm cocking back and the vicious snarl on his face.

And then the strike.

No matter how much one prepares for a blow, it always takes you by surprise in some way. And it always hurts like crazy. Especially if that blow is coming from a whip. John stared vehemently at the wall, his jaw aching from the amount of pressure he was forcing on it. His breath hissed in and out of his nostrils a little too fast. Pain quite literally ripped down his back. There was an ultra faint but horrendous tearing sound as his skin split. However faint the sound was, John could hear it.

Sheppard took his mind away. It was the only option he had now. He took his mind away to the beaches of Hawaii. He'd only been to Hawaii twice but each time he had gone he'd had the pleasure of surfing from hidden beaches. He remembered waiting for the perfect wave on white sandy beaches.

Another blow came, harder than the last. But John barely noticed the burn it left in its wake. He was still on that beach, watching the waves. The sun was warm above him, the sand was soft. A massive swell had started out somewhere in the vast ocean and was now working its way toward the beach. John was in the water on his board, swimming out to catch it.

Drops of blood splattered everywhere as the next lash went wild, managing to strike him twice as the long leather whip doubled back on itself somehow. John had to grind his teeth for a moment to keep from giving them the satisfaction of a yell.

_Disconnect from the pain…It's not your back their flaying…_

Sea spray whipped his hair back as he rose up on the surf board. John could almost smell the salty air. The sun light gleamed off of the frothy waves that barreled toward the white sandy shore.

John gasped. The whip was wrapped around his body. The pain on his chest was unexpected, ripping him from the protection of his mind. The guard tugged on the whip, sending needles of pain through his body as the barbed tip of the whip dug into his skin. John desperately tried to take his mind away again but he was starting to panic. The safety of his memories drifted away. The whip finally came loose and the man behind cocked his arm back. The whip struck again, the barbed tip biting deep into his tender back. A strip of skin was torn away as the whip retreated.

John could hold on no longer. A choked scream broke past his lips as he lost himself to pain.

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**I know i know...ya'll are extremely angry at me for shooting Marklov...**

**So tune in next time to find out what happens!**


	7. Enter Stage Right

oOo

John was barely cognizant when they dragged him back into the upright coffin they called a cell. He was shoved awkwardly into the cramped space. John's legs couldn't hold him anymore and he dropped down onto the cold wet floor. A choked cry slipped out of his lips as his swollen, bruised, and flayed back brushed against the rough wall.

This whole situation was horrible. John felt like he had been backed into a corner. He made an honest mistake in making an agreement with Admare. At the time, he really thought it was the only way to get the team out safely. And then when he tried to get out of it, he almost killed his team. As it was, he ended up killing Marklov just to get his team out. There really wasn't anything else he could have done but he really hated himself for it. Well, he could have rushed Admare but that would have gotten himself killed… which he almost wished he could do that now.

John gently wrapped his arms around his chest in effort to warm himself. He would take the pain and punishment; it would serve to pay for what he had done to Marklov. Marklov, a complete stranger, had more or less sacrificed himself for people he didn't even know. If John had been smart enough… brave enough...to do the same, Marklov would be alive right now.

Why? Why had he done it? It was there that his mind went blank. Every time he thought back to that day, that hour, his mind simply went blank. Just…blank. That in itself was maddening. He had just shot an innocent man! And yet he had no reason behind it. He could have shot Admare but he didn't. Why? It was as if…as if Marklov's assassination was simply a dream…a hazy dream. As if he hadn't been the one to pull the trigger. Only he _had_ pulled the trigger. It was _his_ fault. What had he done?

A sudden muscle spasm made John grind his already clenched teeth and groan. He curled into ball as much as he could and just sat there, wallowing in his pain and guilt. A pang of homesickness hit him. All he really wanted at this point was to go back home. Back to Atlantis where he could sit in a warm infirmary bed and have his pain washed away by Carso— No…Kellers, drugs. He wanted to be around his friends…his family. John wanted to get out.

oOo

Sadina puttered along on her motor bike, the ancient device getting strange glances from the people she passed. She found their reactions amusing. The vehicles tires rolled easily along the road surface. The small motor that powered it purred loudly, signaling her presence to everyone within hearing distance. It was an old, dirty little vehicle; a patch work quilt of caked on dirt, rust spots, and black paint. But the motor bike was cheaper than a hovercraft and faster than walking. And she simply had an emotional attachment to the odd little motor bike.

Sadina drove her bike down the street and to the right, coming to a stop next to a trader's shop that had the words 'Fine Goods' on a banner that was stretched across the top of it. She cut the power to her bike and leaned it up against the wall. Then she ducked her head under the decorative awning and navigated the packed shelves to find the small desk in the back.

"Zeek?" She called, craning her neck to look into the door that led to the back room of the shop. "Your going to make me late again Zeek." She complained into the doorway.

"I'm commin." Came the muffled cantankerous reply. Sadina smiled.

"Hurry up old man." She said sharply, a slight grin tugging at her lips. The gruff mumbling became louder and louder until a small ancient looking man shuffled in from the back room, his arms full of tightly wrapped packages. With a comical groan, he dropped the packages onto the table and started stacking and binding them together.

"How is Sadina today?" He asked as he put things together.

"I'm fine. I'd be better if you hurried up." She said lightly. Zeek paused to fix her with a stern glare.

"Don't rush me ya recreant." He warned. Sadina bowed her head.

"I apologize Zeek." She said humbly. The old man finished up and pushed the large bundle towards her.

"Get on wit ye, or you'll be late." He said cheekily. Sadina flashed him a mock scowl then pulled the bundle off the table. Carefully finding her way through the shop again, she strapped the bundle on the back of her bike and took off through the crowds. Her destination wasn't anywhere near here. It was on level three alright but it was six miles away near the south side of the city.

The prison.

It was almost ironic that she was delivering things to the prison so soon after what had happened. Marklov had been attacked only five days ago. The city wasn't even over the mourning ceremonies yet. But even the death of their leader couldn't stop the beast of commerce that manipulated the city day and night. There was always money to be earned no matter what was happening.

Sadina decided that she would keep her ears and eyes open at the prison as there might be something to be learned about the assassin that wasn't being told to the general public. As of right now, all anyone knew was that it was a man that wasn't from here. And that he was apprehended.

The potential information on the assassin was the only reason Sadina accepted the delivery job in the first place. Otherwise, she would have stayed far away from the cesspool. The prison was barbaric. It was nothing compared to the lower levels of course but it was the blemish of the upper levels.

Sadina drove her bike up to the prisons entrance, got off, snagged the bundle and leaned the bike against the wall. She ignored the curious glances from the guards at the door and stepped up to the receptionist's desk.

"I have a package for the Chief of the Guard." She told the lady. The woman flipped through a sheaf of papers then nodded to herself.

"Down five floors, second door to the right." The woman told her. Sadina nodded.

"Thanks." She quipped then started for the elevator. She entered the smallish box and descended five floors as told to her by the receptionist. Once the elevator door opened, Sadina gagged as a wave of putrid air rushed in. The hallway outside of the elevator was dark and dirty. She felt the urge to run from this place. But then she wouldn't get paid. Hugging the bundle closer, Sadina stepped out of the protective shell of the elevator and started down the hall.

Lining the hallway were tall cramped cells. There was barely enough room for a man to sit in the cells. Regardless, every other cell had someone, or _something_, in it. Some of the prisoners were moaning. One started babbling as soon as he saw her. A few looked dead. Sadina picked up her pace, avoiding the weak arms that were thrust through the bars to try and reach her. She passed one man who managed to curl up into a tight ball. Deep, long cuts crisscrossed his back, accentuated by dark bruises. His face was hidden but she could see that he was shaking from the cold. It was freezing down here, as if they wanted to make their prisoners as uncomfortable as possible.

Sadina found herself leaning forward to look closer at the man. A horrible stench drifted up that made her eyes water. She had to turn away. This place was getting to her. She hurried forward and found the second door to the right. Without bothering to knock, Sadina opened the door and slid inside. She instantly noticed the change in temperature. Then she noticed the thin, hard faced woman sitting behind a desk.

"Sorry for just…bursting in here." Sadina said quickly. "I have a package for you." She stepped forward and offered the bundle. The woman took it and set it on her desk.

"Thank you." She said brusquely. Handing Sadina an envelope of money, she motioned towards the door. Sadina suddenly lost her desire to ask questions about the assassin. She wanted to get out. With a final nod to the woman, Sadina bolted out of the room and practically sprinted down the hallway towards the elevator. The thing couldn't move fast enough for her liking. Once at the top level, she bolted for the door, brushing by several people on her way out. She found herself gasping for fresh air by the time she made her way outside.

Never. Never, _ever_ again would she enter that prison. In her opinion, it should be destroyed. Sadina pulled her motor bike around and sat heavily on it. Anger, and disgust, clouded her mind. She barely knew what she was doing until she realized that she was standing in front of Zeeks shop.

Sadina sat on her bike for a moment at shook her head. She couldn't afford to get worked up right now. Right now, she had work to do…

oOo

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That's all for now folks…tune in next time!**


	8. Into the Fire?

A/N: Let me just say right now that there is a God and he loves me! Let me explain... I go to write the next bit of this story last night, opening the file and scrolling down to where i had left off and the pages stop at 17...mind you i've written 49 pages so far. I nearly fainted last night to see that over half of the story had been deleted. I was able to recover 10 pages from my flashdrive and another few from this site but I had still lost enough to make me wanna cry. But no! i thought to myself, i'd try a few tricks to see if i could find my missing pages. Long story short, i found them... And i said all of that just to say that this early chapter is in celebration of me finding the missing pages to my story! Enjoy!

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oOo

It was day seven.

By now, Sheppard was ready to get out of the prison and away from the guards. He didn't care where they took him as long as he was out of here. He wanted out so bad. The physical torture was bad enough but then you add the other smaller things like the cramped cell, the cold temperatures, and the putrid smell of human waste… These prisons were created for one thing; to thoroughly punish a criminal. They were designed to make a man as uncomfortable as possible. And they were very successful…

Somewhere, a door clanged shut. John could hear footsteps. They were coming for him…or at least he hoped they were. Every second, the footsteps grew louder. Lots of footsteps, several guards. Flashes of meaty fists, cold hard batons, and long coiled whips suddenly bombarded Johns mind. He could feel his skin splitting with each lash. He could hear bones cracking under heavy blows. He could smell his own blood in the air, the bitter odor mixing with the foul stench of urine and vomit to burn his nostrils and churn the fluids in his stomach. So fresh were the memories in his mind that they made him whimper and try to curl further into himself. He felt delirious…infection most likely. There was an icy chill to his bones that sharply contrasted the warmth that drifted off his skin.

Yup…definitely fever. Big surprise there. Infection was inevitable in a cesspool like this but he honestly didn't think it would manifest so soon. All the more reason for the despair that gripped his heart in the past few days.

Two sets of heavy boots stopped in front of John's cage. John could only stare at the boots, his mind suddenly blank. The bars that obstructed a complete view of the boots moved away and still John could only stare at the black clad feet. His wished he had boots... His body was lifted up and carried away and still John could only stare at the boots, which now moved along the ground. Those boots had spent many hours kicking the crap out of him. Those boots had tromped on his feet, breaking several bones in the process.

And then he was dumped unceremoniously on the ground. A bucket of cold water was splashed over his fevered body, forcing a small amount of awareness back into his brain. Despite that awareness, there was still a thick cloak of illness firmly wrapped around his mind. Someone was speaking to him, no doubt offering him some more official mumbo jumbo crap. He couldn't care less at this point.

He was hefted upright again. His head lolled to one side. Two hands gripped his head firmly and held it so that his eyes looked into those of a hard faced man. Then a woman stepped into view. John hated his woman. When male guards tortured another male, they normally avoided certain areas. It was a guy thing. Some last shred of respect between the captive and his tormenter. But a man couldn't be certain when a woman walked in to do the torturing. Especially this woman. Her goal was to make him scream with pain. And she exactly where to hit…

She examined him with a critical yet indifferent eye then pulled a syringe type device into view. John's eyes narrowed at the sight of it. Then he gave her a delusional and sarcastic grin that was far from amused.

"A parting gift?" He slurred. The woman's eyebrows arched and she fixed him with a cold glare. In response to his inquiry, she simple jabbed the needle into his neck. John gasped at the pain. And then it felt like he had been pumped full of a concentrated form of caffeine. A jittery energy filled his limbs. John's muscles started to shake.

"W-what…the _crap_?" He stuttered. The hazy fog that had seemed to cover his eyes was now replaced with something else…like he put on a pair of glasses that were for a farsighted person. It had to have been some sort of stimulant. Everything was painfully, unnaturally, clear…at least as far as sight went. His head still felt like it was stuffed with soggy cotton which made for a very strange combination of feelings.

They pushed him forward and, to his surprise and amazement, he was able to stay on his own two feet as he was herded down the hall. He stumbled into an elevator type contraption. John couldn't grasp what was happening to him. Whatever they pumped into his system was screwing with his brain. Things kept skipping like a scratched DVD. One second his feet were scrapping against the rough floor then the next second he was in a fairly well lit elevator. It was as if he kept blacking out for mere seconds at a time. But pain was still a constant. It seemed to be the only thing that was. His constant pain was ironic in a twisted, evil sort of way.

John blinked and suddenly realized that he was face down on the ground. Now how did he get there? A thin smooth square plastic thing somehow worked its way under his palm and he grasped it out of curiosity more than anything else. And then he was out the door and in a fast moving vehicle. His pain had increased somewhere along the line and it made him groan miserably. A guard shoved him and mumbled something that sounded like 'be quiet', though he couldn't be sure. Johns head lolled backward and he watched with a mild, drug induced interest as they descended into the bowels of the city.

Quite suddenly, all natural light blinked out and was replaced by artificial light. It seemed as though the sun had set and John wondered if he had simply passed out and it was indeed nighttime. It was curious to be sure. The setting down here reminded him of Blade Runner…or something like that.

The lights whizzed by him, seeming to dance before his eyes. But it was when he started seeing Harrison Ford out of the corner of his eye that John realized that the drug was seriously messing with his mind.

"Crap…"He moaned and squeezed his eyes shut, not seeing the curious glance from the nearby guard.

oOo

Two sharp eyes peered out from the shadows of the narrow alleyway. They watched as the government vehicle made its way through the packed noontime crowds. It was a prison transport vehicle. It was transporting a dangerous prisoner by the looks of the man in the back. They only used that type of drug when moving a dangerous prisoner. The assassin perhaps? He had been told that they were moving him today. No one knew what the man looked like or his name or anything. But _he_ knew where they would come to take the man to the lower levels.

This had to be the assassin. If it wasn't…well, then he would simply kill the man. He had his orders and they were clear enough. Find the assassin. That meant he could do anything he wanted as long as he found the man and brought him to Bomba.

The man waited until the transport was nearer to him. Then he hefted a small sphere. It landed with a soft thud in front of the transport.

Then it exploded.

It was a small, controlled explosion, lifting the nose of the vehicle up into the air. It toppled over as bits of burning metal rained down. People started screaming and running every which way. The man's lip curled up; if he didn't get the assassin out soon, he risked capture himself. He ran for the wreck, already searching the bodies on the ground. Finding the limp body of the assassin, he hefted it over his shoulder and ran for the shadows. Locating the dark spaces easily, he made his way down, seeking the lax security of the lower levels.

After a time, the man came within sight of Bomba's tavern. He slowed his steps. If he came to Bomba with the wrong man, he could be putting himself at risk. Finding a vacant ally, the man dropped his load down and started a small fire to add some light to his little hideaway. He looked closely at the assassin. The man was not in good shape. His back was one mess of blood and tattered skin; infection was setting in. Multicolored bruises peppered his chest and face. Clothing hung in pathetic shreds off of his lean frame. This man would die soon if he didn't receive any treatment. It was a shame really. But all he wanted was for the assassin to be lucid enough to answer one question. Just one. But if he was as drugged up as the man thought he was, than this prisoner wasn't going to be much help for a while yet.

The man pulled out a bottle of water and poured it on the assassins' unconscious body. The prisoner sputtered and coughed for a bit then turned groggy eyes towards the man. Well, if he was lucid enough to focus his eyes, he might be lucid enough to answer questions.

"Did you kill Marklov?" The man demanded. The assassin blinked, his face scrunched up in confusion.

"Wha—"

"Did you kill Marklov?" The man demanded again. The assassin simply gazed around, his head lolling to one side. The man slapped him. Hard. "Did you kill Marklov?" He was nearly shouting. But he had the assassins' attention.

"Yeah…but—" The man punched him, silencing further talk. He had no desire to know why Marklov was dead. He stamped out his small fire and hefted the assassins' body up and onto his shoulder. Then he made his way to the tavern.

oOo

* * *

TBC...


	9. I Am SISU

oOo

Sadina checked her bag for the umpteenth time. She angrily dumped her things onto the bench and sorted through them…again. Nothing. Her key card was gone. She wrinkled her nose and sent an angry glare towards the noontime sun. _Of course…_ Sadina thought grumpily. The day was bad enough with the trip to the prison and now she needed to get a new key card. That process would take hours and completely ruin her delivery schedule for the next few days. Such was life in such a large city like Brillez.

Sadina sighed and started throwing things back into her bag. She pulled her bike around and set off for her dwelling complex, praying the owner was in a good mood today.

oOo

Bomba stared at the limp man lying crumpled before him.

"And you're sure this is 'im?" He asked. A short man seemed to materialize out of the shadows.

"I'm sure."

"Good job." Bomba tossed him a small sack. Then he handed him a small syringe. "Put that into 'im. He'll wake up soon enough." Bomba ordered. The man nodded and did as he was told. Mere seconds later, the assassin started to stir.

"He's sick, infection. He won't last long without medication." The man explained. Bomba snorted.

"That don't matter much. Alls I need is some information before 'e expires."

The man's eyes narrowed. "I didn't just risk my neck for nothing did I?" He asked. Bomba grinned.

"Information is worth more than ya know." Bomba's grin turned feral.

oOo

John's eyes fluttered open and he sat up with a gasp. Then he nearly cried out as his body erupted in a torrent of pain. He squeezed his eyes shut against the pain. As he waited for the agony to ebb, he slowly realized that his head was clearer than it was before. But he still felt a deadly chill settling into his bones that made him shake.

There were voices surrounding him but he didn't care. He wasn't going to dignify their questions with even a twitch, much less a response. And then one man said something that caught his attention.

Food.

John cracked his eyes open to see a short fat bald man leaning over him. The man smiled at him…a vicious predator's smile. John blinked. "Where am I?" He asked. He wasn't quite sure what else to say. It wasn't like he could ask 'where's the chow'. 'Where am I' was a classic why to start out a conversation when one was a captive.

"Names Bomba." The fat man said. "You are in my home." Bomba looked over at the other man. "Get 'im up Kane." He ordered. The other man pulled Johns arm around his shoulders and pushed upward. John moaned and nearly blacked out as the skin on his back stretched. The world spun crazily and he snapped his eyes shut again. He almost missed the conversation between the other two men as they hauled his sorry carcass across the room.

"What's 'e got in 'is hand?" Bomba asked.

"I don't know. I didn't notice that before." Kane answered. John squeezed his left hand and felt nothing in it. Then he squeezed his right and hissed as something cut into his palm and fingers.

He was set on the floor with his back leaning against a wall. Someone pried the fingers of his right hand open, sending shafts of pain up his arm.

"It's cutting into 'im." Bomba muttered. John was curious now and he opened his eyes to see the fat man pulling a thin square thing out of his hand. Both his hand and the square thing were covered in blood. John didn't remember ever picking the thing up in the first place. Then again, he didn't remember much at all at the moment. All he had were flashes of guards beating him up and people dragging him around. Not the fondest of memories…

Bomba was patting him on the shoulder. "Don't worry mate, we'll get you fixed up in a bit." The man was vile, inside and out. John felt he should be running as fast as he could to get away but he could hardly keep his eyes open at the moment, much less run away. His eyes started to slide shut as his mind drifted. Then someone was shaking his shoulder. When he couldn't open his eyes, he was pulled up and placed in a chair.

And then a bucket of water was dumped over his head. Bomba was staring at him intently from the other side of a table. A plate of food sat in front of him.

"Why did you kill 'im mate?" Bomba asked. John's eyebrows scrunched together. He was so tired…

**BAM**. Bomba banged a fist on the table.

"Answer!" He demanded. "Why did you kill Marklov?!" John saw past his façade instantly…which was saying something for his fevered mind. He had two options. He could refuse to say anything or he could tell what he knew. John wasn't one to just blab his heart out but it wasn't like this man was asking for information about Atlantis. The man didn't even know who he was. At least the first question was easy enough.

"I don't… I don't know." John said wearily. He gazed longingly at the food. Bomba saw his longing and pushed the plate forward a bit. The man laughed gruffly.

"Been drugged, 'e has." He said to someone else. "Hardly knows what 'e did. That's good blackmail, that is." Then Bomba turned back to John "How did you get in there? I've been trying for months to get at Marklov. How did you do it?" Bomba asked. John winced as his muscles twitched. He was having a hard time concentrating. He had the impulse to keep his mouth shut but he was having a hard time in knowing why it mattered now. Marklov was dead, it was his fault; no secret in that.

The food looked good…it had been over a week since he'd had a decent meal…

"Hey!" Bomba barked. "Stay with me."

"The right place at the right time…" John mumbled. Pain was starting to break through the haze of the infection, making it ten times harder to focus.

"Who set you up?"

John stared at Bomba's head. The light gleamed off of the bald surface. Pain ripped up his arm and a choked cry escaped from John's throat. His eyes snapped down to see Bomba holding his hand in an awkward position with two fingers twisted up in an unnatural way…broken. Bomba let go of the fingers and picked up two more, getting ready to wrench those as well. "Who set you up?" Bomba asked again. John felt as though his lungs couldn't possibly hold enough oxygen anymore.

And why shouldn't he answer? He hated Admare anyway; it wasn't like he was protecting the man. And maybe…maybe this man would seek revenge on Admare. Maybe that would help to absolve John.

"A-admare…" John wheezed.

"Master Admare?" Bomba dropped his hand and John hugged the mangled limb to his chest. "You're sure?" Bomba asked. John glared at the man.

"It's kinda hard…not to figure out…his name when…Marklov is yelling it…" He couldn't catch his breath but he could still be sarcastic. Bomba laughed.

"Cheeky…" He muttered. Then the fat man pushed the thin square thing forward. "Is this where you live?" John looked down at what looked like a square credit card.

"I-I... No." John said as he stared at the thing.

"Who lives here?"

"I…don't know."

"You were holding on to this pretty tightly when we brought you in here." Bomba said, clearly not believing Johns statement.

"I don't …know." John insisted. "I…I don't remember…grabbing it…" His eye lids slid shut of their own accord. Sheppard didn't care though; he was in far too much pain to care now. He could barely hear Bomba talking anymore.

"He's done. Dump 'im somewhere." Bomba said. John was being carried again. Alarm picked at his mind. He should be doing something…

"Sorry to end it like this mate." The other man, Kane was talking to him.

He was dumped none too gently on the ground. The plastic card was shoved into his hand. And then nothing…

John was sure he was going to feel a gun muzzle against his head or a knife blade against his neck. But there was nothing. John knew he needed to move…he needed to get up and move. He was going to die if he didn't. All he wanted was to sleep, to escape the pain… But he couldn't… not yet.

Not yet.

_Get up John._ He told himself. The drugs must have been wearing off because he could think clearer. _Get. Up. John._ With a groan, John forced himself upright, opening his eyes in the process. He was tossed aside like a wet rag but John saw that he was next to a transport pod …thing. Perhaps Kane had more heart than John originally thought.

Sheppard groaned. He didn't know what to do now. There was no where for him to go…no one to help him. He was an injured man in a strange city. John looked down at the card in his bloody hand. There was some sort of logo on one side with the words _Level 3 Row 5 Dwelling 334. _It almost looked like a key card for a hotel room. Maybe…maybe if he could get to the dwelling…

Adrenaline slowly seeped into his system, giving him a sort of strength. It pushed back the effects of the fever and it took off the edge of the pain. The natural chemical was a welcomed blessing, giving John the idea that someone was still looking out for him. It was something he so desperately needed. It was what he needed to find dwelling 334. That was his only decent plan.

John examined the transport thing with a critical eye. He wasn't entirely sure it was for transport but it sorta looked like a less advanced version of what they had on Altantis. And there were four of the things lined up side by side, each one incased in a clear tube. There was one tube in the middle that was empty. They could have very well been trash compacters for all he knew but running on luck at this point so John figured he'd give it a shot. There was a largish button on the outside of the pod things.

Well…buttons were for pushing… John took a step towards the thing and pushed the button with a quaking hand. There was a great whooshing noise and for an instant, John thought he just armed a bomb or something but then a great blur rushed up the middle tube. It happened so fast that John almost didn't catch it. He just stared at the still empty middle tube. Fever was clouding his thoughts, making them sluggish. The pod to his left dropped down its tube with a great whoosh. John blinked. He stared at the two empty pods while he pushed the button again.

A quiet swish pulled his attention to the pod in front of him. A door had opened, revealing a small space that was just big enough for two people. John stumbled into it and sat on the floor, not trusting his weak legs to hold him. The door slid shut and a light blinked on. John could see no buttons on the inside, the walls of the thing as smooth as glass.

A soft, pleasant voice filled the space. "Please state your destination." The voice told him. John's eyebrows scrunched up. He wasn't entirely sure what to tell the thing.

"Um…Level three?" He said.

"Thank you." Said the voice and the pod started to move upwards. The voice was almost _too_ nice. _Danger! Danger Will Robinson! _

John pulled his knees up and rested his forehead on them. Pain seized him; sinking its cruel claws into his body and making him moan miserably. He was sick of it. He was sick of being weak and hurt and…sick. Every now and then, John wondered whether he was just cursed or something. Or maybe there was some divine plan that required his own suffering. Which would suck. Although, at least that way there was a point to his pain. Even the hint of a purpose made his anguish more bearable..._slightly_.

His pod slowed to a stop, the voice chirped pleasantly, and the doors hissed open. Warm light from the setting sun spilled into the pod. John blinked, his eyelids heavy. He would have enjoyed the sunlight had he not felt as though he was wrapped up in a heavy wool blanket. And then at the same time his innards felt like they were soaking in a tub of ice.

John sighed, realizing that he was going have to move again. He actually dreaded the thought. During his stay in the prison, the guards had saw fit to break a few toe bones. Walking was agony now. But it was either walk or die in a pod. At this point, John almost hoped his fever would get worse so he wouldn't remember the pain that he knew would come.

John clenched his teeth and braced his hands against the pod. And yet he still could not work up the resolve to move.

"Come on John." He muttered to himself. His face was screwed into a grimace and he was breathing hard through his nose. "Come on…" John finally pushed himself up, nearly falling again as a fiery pain swept up from his feet. But he was up. And he was moving forward, out of the pod and aiming towards the bustling crowds.

The realization hit him that he had no idea as to where the dwelling might be. But that was only one of many holes in his plan. John felt like he was…Frodo Baggins. Only he didn't have a demon possessed ring…or hairy feet… Or anything else pertaining to Lord of the Rings. But he did feel like he had an impossible mission that would kill him. Yes, he felt like Frodo. Or that one fish from Finding Nemo…but that was really thinking outside of the box and showed just how fevered his mind really was.

John gripped the small square card and held it up to the light. The logo had a small name printed under it that said _Superb Suburb Dwellings_. John fervently hoped that the name was well known because he was going to have to ask for help. Nothing else mattered in his mind right now. His sole goal was to find this dwelling. Although, he'd almost completely forgotten why. But John needed a goal…even if he couldn't remember why…

oOo


	10. Blind Angels

oOo

Through the thick haze of pain and infection, John decided that the people of this planet were either heartless or retarded. Nearly every person he'd gone up to had hightailed it out of there. John's tactic was simple and desperate and he was surprised that no one had called the cops on him. But really, these people _were _heartless. You would think that _someone _would do _something _if they saw a beaten, sick man running around. And it made matters worse that the beaten sick man was himself. It was as if this city was so full of hate, or its people were so full of themselves, that they couldn't help anyone besides themselves. John was beginning to think that he would simply die out here in the streets.

Until he saw an old woman with a small boy. It was pure desperation that drove him now. With a slight spurt of energy, John stumbled up to the elderly lady. She instantly turned the other way, pushing the boy behind her.

"Wait…" John gasped. He shoved the card forward for her to see. "Please whe-where is this?" The woman eyed him warily. "Please." He muttered. John hung his head, not wanting to see as they walked away. But then a gentle hand pushed his chin up. The woman was looking at him with soft, kind and clouded eyes.

"What happened?" She asked. John could only stare at her.

"It's…it's a long story." He admitted. She nodded then looked down at the card in Johns shaking hands, grabbing his hands in hers.

"I'll take you there." She assured him. John almost wanted to cry.

"Thank you." He mumbled.

"Can you walk? My vehicle is this way." The woman herded the boy forward then waited for John to move forward, grabbing his elbow in effort to support him when he nearly fell forward. He almost pulled away from her touch, having felt nothing but pain whenever people touched him recently. But this woman… John was almost certain she was an angel. Someone was still looking out for him.

By now John's mind was almost completely shot. Pain was enveloping him with each step. He barely knew what was happening until he was sitting in a small hovercraft. The old woman was asking him something but he could only stare at her and nod every now and then. John realized that she was nearly blind. Had he been more aware, he would have reconsidered riding in a vehicle that was piloted by a half blind old woman. As it was, he was functioning on pure happenstance. Coherent thought was laughable at best. He was in unknown hands at this point.

oOo

The old woman pulled into the lot and glanced over at her passenger. She could sense rather than see that he was nearly unconscious. Even still, she would see this through. The man smelled like he'd been lying drunk somewhere in the lower levels. But she would grant him this kindness. Turning toward her grandson, she handed him the card.

"Jax, help me find this dwelling." She told him. The boy was silent for a moment while he looked at the building numbers.

"Down there Meema." He instructed. She nodded; already out of the craft and helping the man out. The man barely shuffled but at least he was upright.

"Lead the way." She said with more gusto than she really felt. Jax trotted down the row of dwellings.

"Here Meema!" He shouted. The woman smiled and kept on shuffling forward at an agonizingly slow pace. But they reached the door before the sun had set and the grandmother was happy with that. Jax pushed the call button on the outside of the door. Then pushed it again. And again and again until she told him to stop. It was obvious that no one was home. She instructed Jax to put the key card in the slot and the door slid open with a cheerful beep. As the woman stepped forward, the man tripped and fell sideways. The woman tried to hold him up but his bulk was too much for her old bones and he fell against the wall, shattering a light fixture. He yelped and slowly curled into a ball. The woman bent down.

"Come on boy, we need to get you inside." She ordered softly. Then she gently tugged upward and he responded by pushing himself up with several groans and choked sobs. But he was up and moving again. The woman wasted no time in getting him inside and on the nearest bench.

"Now maybe you'll think twice about going down to the lower levels." She lectured once he was settled. "Come on Jax, time to go." They left without another word to the man, leaving the keycard on the table. The woman was satisfied with her good deed but it was time to get her grandson home.

oOo

Sadina hated the dwelling owner. She really did. He shamelessly hassled her about the missing keycard and it took a lot of dealing on her part to get another one. By the time he finally made one up, the sun was starting to set and clouds were starting to fill the sky. She still had to run to a local store to pick up packages for a delivery that was due tomorrow morning. She completely missed her afternoon deliveries.

Parking her motorbike in her allotment, Sadina walked briskly, head down, eyes darting around as she neared her dwelling. By now, the sky over head was dark and foreboding, its heavy clouds held the promise of rain. Maybe hail. She quickened her pace until she was almost running. As she stepped up to the door, her feet crunched on bits of glass from a broken light fixture. Sadina made a mental note to call the grounds keeper in the morning. She dug the new key card out of her bag with one hand while the other hand was wrapped around the armful of packages.

The rain started to fall as her door hissed open. Sadina slid inside and let it shut again, effectively cutting out most of the light so that the inside of her dwelling was washed in dark hues of gray. She juggled her load to the other hand as she felt around for the light switch. She allowed herself a small smile as the wall fixtures lit up her small kitchen, the yellow light spilling ever so slightly into the living area. Sadina let her packages fall onto the kitchen counter then she ran her fingers through her short brown hair.

She sighed, letting weariness relax her muscles. She rolled her neck and closed her eyes. Then, with a huff of resolution, she picked up a stack of papers and a writing implement and moved to an overstuffed chair in the living room; turning on a lamp next to the chair in the process. Sadina settled down, wiggling her body slightly to get more comfortable.

A quiet thump pulled her attention away from the information in her grasp. Sadina glanced up and looked in the direction of the noise. She froze as a flash of lightning lit up the far corner of the room. The papers fell from her hand.

In a split second, she saw it all. A tall man sat hunched over. He was staring at her with piercing hazel eyes. One arm was wrapped around his chest while the other was clutching the edge of the bench he was sitting on as if it were the only thing keeping him alive. His legs were splayed out awkwardly in an attempt to brace himself. He was breathing hard. The black shirt that covered his chest was torn in many places and was soaked through, dripping an unknown fluid onto the floor. His dark hair was askew, molded and held fast with sweat and dirt.

Sadina could feel a scream building up in her throat as her body shook with terror. The man seemed to sense it and he hastily held up a hand, nearly falling over in the process. "Pl-please…don't…" He stammered drunkenly. At first Sadina thought he was drunk but then she saw his pain filled grimace. His eyes took on a glint of desperation; and something else… something dangerous.

A faint, intangible memory was triggered in her subconscious and she thought for a moment that she might know this man. The recognition, however slight it was, had given her a sort of courage.

"What do you want?" Came her hushed fearful voice. Confusion lit across the mans face as if he himself did not know. He thought about it for a few moments before answering.

"Shelter." His voice was husky with pain. "I won't hurt you." His eyes searched hers. He almost seemed embarrassed by his own plight. Fear was starting to give way to pity. This man couldn't possible hurt her as he could barely sit upright. A strange feeling washed over her and she slowly walked over to where he sat. He eyed her like a cornered animal, untrusting of her movements. She was trembling as she knelt down next to him and she saw that he was shaking as well. Absentmindedly, she raised a hand to pull a piece of hair out of her face. The man flinched and shied away from her, not out of fear, she saw, but out of habit. A sudden sympathy overwhelmed her. Sadina put her hand back down.

"What is your name?" She asked gently. His face went blank for a moment as if he had shut down for the night. Then he fixed her with a resigned gaze.

"John Sheppard." He whispered. She nodded.

"Adie Savin, you can call me Sadina." She told him. "Are you badly hurt?" The man snorted in an attempt at a laugh. _Ok,_ she thought. _Dumb question. How bout this one…what the heck am I doing?_ A putrid stench wafted off the man, making her gag. He was probably diseased or had a bounty on his head or something. Her mother was going to kill her. Her brothers were going to kill her and then kill Sheppard. But Sadina couldn't see any way out of helping this man now. He had come to her for some unknown reason and she felt that someone wanted her to do something about it. Yep, her brothers would defiantly kill her for this one. Sadina sighed. She was in way over her head.

By now John Sheppard was starting to tilt sideways. He was panting. Sadina reached up to help him and he panicked. It was a feeble attempt but he still managed to push himself back, falling off the bench in the process. Sadina tried to hang on to him and ended up tearing his shirt off as he tumbled to the floor. She stared at him, wide eyed. "Oh…oh no…" She peeped. With a still trembling hand, she pulled the bench back and out of the way so Sheppard could lie flat. His eyes were closed and his breathing had slowed considerably. And now she had absolutely no idea of what to do next. She was starting to get hysterical, she could feel it.

A doctor! She needed to call a doctor. Sadina scrambled to her feet and ran for her communicator, stubbing her toe on a side table in the process. She put in the doctors code and waited for him to answer with the device wedged between her shoulder and her ear so she could use her hands to inspect her damaged toe nail.

"Yes?" The doctors' voice blared in her ear.

"Doctor Kingston, I need help." She blurted tactlessly.

"Ms. Savin? Do you realize wha—"

"Please, I need you to come to my dwelling. There is an injured man here and he needs help." She pleaded.

"Take him to the hospital." The doctor said simply.

"I don't think they'll take him. I don't even know who he is." Sadina explained.

The doctor sighed. "What is going on Sadina?" He asked.

"I don't…I don't know. Please Dr. Kingston, please help me." She was close to tears.

"I might be able to come out tomorrow afternoon." He offered.

"Dr. Kingston, I have a half naked dying man in my living room. This won't wait until tomorrow." Sadina snapped. There was a moment of silence.

"I'll send one of my students." He assured her. "He'll be there within the next hour. That's the best I can do."

"Thank you." She breathed a sigh of relief. With a click, the call was ended. Sadina leaned up against the kitchen counter and pressed a hand to her face. She could no longer hold back the tears. With a choked sob, they started to fall. Her shoulders shook as she slowly slid down to sit on the floor. Sadina imagined there were things she should be doing to help her rather unwanted guest but she just couldn't.

Still sobbing, she glanced up from her position on the floor to gaze at the man sprawled out in the living room. One thing was certain, the next few days would be…interesting.

oOo

* * *

A/N: Now honestly, the amount of reviews for the last chapter was just pathetic, Ya'll can do better than that... And you know, more reviews motivate me to post faster... And big thanks to all who have reviewed thus far! Thanks to ya'll, i've been greatly encouraged and i have learned how to write better and i am immensely grateful


	11. Dirty Work

oOo

Sadina nearly jumped out of her skin when the door bell rang out. She stumbled upright and bolted for the door. A tall man with shaggy blond hair stood in the entrance. He was young…well, younger than her at least. He smiled pleasantly.

"Ms. Savin? My name's Ike. Lead me to the sick man." He said cheerfully. Sadina instantly liked the young man called Ike. He seemed sure of himself. And she noticed how he didn't use a trader's name, which meant that he was not from level three. Regardless, his attitude seemed to ease her nerves somewhat. With a shaky smile, she led him into the living area. Instantly, Ike was on his knees at John Sheppard's side. The cheerfulness fell away to meticulous professionalism. His sharp green eyes searched over the mans body first, before Ike dared to touch him. Sadina was curious as to how the young man could see past the thick layer of grime that covered Sheppard. As Ike did a visual sweep, he took a pair of surgical gloves out of his bag and pulled them on. Despite his youth, Sadina noticed the sureness of his movements as Ike began to gently prod Sheppard's chest. The unconscious man groaned softly, pulling Ike's careful gaze away from his task for a brief moment. Then his eyes went to the blood stain that seeped out from underneath his patient.

"Help me turn him over." Ike ordered, handing her a pair of surgical gloves. Sadina balked for a moment but then moved on stiff legs to grab the proffered gloves and kneel down next to the young doctor.

"Put your hands here and here." Ike said, indicating the proper places. "We're going to roll him on his side and then you're going to hold him while I examine. Got it?" He was smiling again which helped her to relax somewhat. She could feel the heat coming off of the mans body as they pushed Sheppard onto his side. Sadina gasped, almost dropping the poor man out of pure shock. His back was encased in a sticky, lumpy crust of dirt, sweat, and blood. Clear fluids oozed out of cracks in the crust. Thin strips of skin hung off the filth. Fresh blood dribbled out of a wound on Sheppard's shoulder; bits of glass poking up around it.

"How are you still alive…" Ike muttered, digging at the mess with a fingertip. His eyes were full of concern and shock, showing his inexperience. "Ok," He said finally. "Ok, I don't have enough supplies for this… Ms. Savin? I need to go get some things, I won't be long. But right now, I need you to go get a fresh clean sheet." He instructed as he gently pushed her hands out of the way and replaced them with his own so he could support the man. Sadina leapt up and ran for the sheet. Following Ike's instructions, she spread it out under the man and they gently rolled him onto his back again. When Ike was fully satisfied that the man was laying on the clean sheet, he pushed himself up. "Ok, Ms. Savin, while I'm gone, I need you to clean up as much of the grime on his body as you can, just don't touch his back. Use cold water; we need to get the fever down. And try not to use soap; that will cause more pain than its worth at this point. Take your time and go slow if you hit any caked on dirt. Use clean towels. Got it?" He looked intently at her. Sadina's eyes were wide.

"Y-you want me to…to wash him?" She stuttered. Ike nodded as he moved towards the door. "All of him?" She asked in disbelief.

"All but his back." Ike confirmed. "I'll try to be quick." He promised and then he was gone. Sadina just stared at the closed door for a moment, shell shocked. Then she snapped into action. Running to and fro, she gathered all the clean towels she had then filled two large bowls with water. She paused for a moment in the kitchen then reluctantly grabbed a pair of scissors. Sadina approached the prone man with a kind of reverence. The noise of her own movements made her nervous as she dipped a towel into the water then pressed against his dirty chest.

"Ohhh…mother is going to kill me." She moaned. But she kept on scrubbing the dirt away. Ten minutes and five towels later, she uncovered a patchwork quilt of bruises overlapping pale skin. Sheppard groaned and whimpered beneath her fingers, causing tears well up in her eyes. She moved on to his face, using extra care so as not to hurt him. A multicolored bruise stretched across his left cheek. Sadina dabbed the towel against some dried blood on his lip. It was then that his eyes flicked open and fixed her with a confused, fearful gaze. He opened his lips to speak and worked his jaws as if trying to but no sound came out. Sadina brushed his hair back in a gesture of comfort.

"Shh shhh…its ok. You're going to be alright." She cooed. "You're safe." He stared at her for a moment before his eyelids slid shut again. Tears were really starting to fall down her cheeks now.

How could someone do something like this to another human? How could someone be so heartless…so cruel?

Sadina sniffed and drug her hand across her eyes in effort to whip away the tears. Then she got back to her task. Scissors in hand, she draped a large towel across the mans midsection, to be as discreet as possible, and then started to slice off the soiled pants. His legs were protected from much of the grime but his feet were nearly black with it. She had to soak each foot for a while before she could clean off the dirt. The unpleasant discovery of broken bones was made when she pulled one of his feet the wrong way which caused him to groan.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry." Sadina kept muttering. The sheet that Sheppard was lying on had splatters of both brown and red on it. The sight made her sick. As did the smell. The scent seemed to stick to everything, as if it were something tangible. Sadina started to cry again when the door buzzed. She sprinted towards it, letting in a red faced, puffing Ike. They didn't exchange any pleasantries this time, he simply walked in, eyes locked on Sheppard. A heavy looking case was in his hands. Silently, he inspected her work, nodding in approval. Finally, Ike looked up at her.

"Lets get to work."

oOo

John felt hot. To hot. Unbearably hot. Whatever drugs had been in his bloodstream were gone now. The fever had taken his mind. There were people moving him…manhandling him. He wanted them to stop. They were hurting him. It hurt so bad. He'd tried to communicate his discomfort to them but his mouth didn't seem to want to work. All he could manage were groans and whimpers.

He tried to open his eyes but there seemed to be heavy weights holding them down. But still he struggled to open them anyway, succeeding in making them flutter for a few brief moments. It wasn't enough…not enough…

oOo

Sadina helped Ike to roll the man onto his stomach so they could get at his back. Ike pulled out a syringe and injected the contents into Sheppard's neck. Sadina narrowed her eyes. "What's that?" She asked, suddenly not trusting the man…as if the doctor actually wanted to kill his own patient.

"Something that will fight the infection and take down the fever." Ike explained.

"Oh." She muttered. Ike smiled at her but said nothing. With meticulous care, they cleaned Sheppards back. Ike gently scrubbed away the caked on dirt and dried blood, cursing under his breath as he uncovered long crisscrossing wounds. It took them nearly half an hour but eventually, they cleared away the grime.

"Ok, this is going to be the hard part." Ike explained. "I need to disinfect the wounds and its going to hurt him…a lot. If he starts to move, I'll need to you to hold him down." Sadina's stomach twisted into a knot. "Ready?"

oOo

John finally managed to get his eyes open but all he could see was the floor. He yelped as a fiery pain spread out across his back, taking his breath away. The pain only increased. Why couldn't they stop? It was day seven, time to stop and ship him off to the lower levels. A woman came into view. She was shushing him. She actually had the nerve to shush him. Most people wanted to hear screams when they were torturing someone but this chick was actually shushing him. Well, John wasn't one to follow the wishes of his tormenters. His next anguished groan was good and loud. He even found some small scrap of energy to buck upwards a bit. The woman was talking to him now. She was touching his head…but she wasn't hurting him. Her touch was almost soothing.

John was thoroughly confused now. He wasn't entirely sure that he was still in the prison anymore. He studied the woman more closely and realized that she wasn't the tormenter from the prison. No, this woman had luminous violet eyes and flawless skin and a sympathetic look to her face. Was this a new nurse in the infirmary? Was he back in Atlantis?

No. There were no familiar infirmary smells and no soft bed beneath him. The hands working on his wounds were rough and unsure…inexperienced. This place didn't _feel_ like Atlantis. The city always hummed to him whenever he was there, even more so when he was injured, but this place…this was just a building. Had he found a scrap of humanity in this twisted world? He supposed so.

The burning pain suddenly grew sharper; making him cry out. A hand suddenly gripped his own. He held onto it, riding out the pain that threatened to overwhelm him. The woman was humming; it was the sweetest thing John had heard in a long time. He could feel consciousness slipping away again and he was glad for it…he wanted an escape…

Marklov was staring him down. The face was accusing, angry. Haunting. John closed his eyes but Marklov was still there. "…sorry…'m so sorry…" John moaned before the face chased him into the oblivion of the unconscious.

oOo

* * *

A/N: Thank you oh so much for the many reviews!! As always, if you see something that absoluetly needs to be fixed, don't hesitate to tell me! 


	12. The Man Who Hated

oOo

Admare leaned back in the chair and stared out the window. A smug grin flitted across his face. The view from this office was impeccable. The office itself was impeccable. And for no apparent reason either. Take the chair for example; this chair was the exact same chair that was in Admares former office yet _this_ chair seemed…better. Perhaps it was the essence of power itself that made one see things differently. Admare imagined he was seeing things very differently now. And he imagined that it was because of his sudden rise to power. Well, maybe it wasn't so sudden but it was a rise to power none the less. Actually, it wasn't sudden at all. This rise to power had been in the works for several weeks. And then there was that wrench thrown into the works. But even that had worked out for the best. A little thinking, a few choice hallucinogens, the right leverage and a little prodding in the end...all had played out beautifully.

He had risen.

"Admare!" Rolend burst into his office. No knocking, no apologizing for the rude entry, no respect. Admare would have to fix that some time.

"What is it Rolend?" Admare snapped. The Chief of Security gave him a sour look that let Admare know just how much he disapproved of the new position.

"We have a problem." Rolend stated. Admare rolled his eyes. The man was so vague.

"And what is that problem?" Admare demanded.

"John Sheppard has escaped." Rolend said reluctantly. "The convoy was attacked on level five. Two men are dead, the rest are injured. I believe he had contacts here in Brillez before this whole mess started. We have begun searching but its going to be nearly impossible to find him without knowing who his contacts are." The man rubbed his face wearily.

"Find him." Admare ordered.

"That is what we are trying to do." Rolend snapped. "I'll let you know when that happens." He muttered while turning towards the door, not waiting for any sort of reply before leaving. For a few minutes, all Admare could do was stare at the now closed door. He thought that he really did hate that man…with a burning passion. As for the escaped prisoner…well…maybe Admare would hire a bodyguard to watch his back.

And then there was the pesky problem of Sheppard's home planet. The people just wouldn't leave him alone. They kept trying to get their man back. But of course, Admare couldn't let this happen. The people of Brillez wanted justice for the murder of Marklov and Admare couldn't very well give himself up so he would give them the next best thing. He couldn't spoil that by freeing Sheppard.

Admare had latched onto the situation, using it to boost his popularity in the city. He assured the citizens that he would never allow this murderer to escape. That statement had earned him thunderous applause. Now as long as the public remained ignorant to this latest development, Admare would be in the clear. And he _had _considered taking the man back to his planet except that now they had lost him. There was no finding someone in Brillez once they had been lost. It was virtually impossible. So now Admare needed to keep the rescue parties away as he couldn't have them poking their noses into his business. Only they just wouldn't leave Brillez alone.

But he would fix this with a carefully devised plan. Well, really it was merely an elaborate lie. One that Admare had thought of five days ago when Colonel Carter kept trying to negotiate Sheppard's return. He fed the colonel lies about what would happen to Sheppard in case a situation arose… the situation he happened to be in right now. Of course he would have to back up his lies with hard evidence at some point; this Admare had learned early on in his career. After much cajoling and lying, Admare managed to get one of Marklov's cronies to retrieve the more stomach churning, yet vital, elements for his hard evidence. At this point, Admare almost hoped he would be able to implant the final piece to his fantastic plan.

oOo

Sadina had curled into a tight ball on the couch over twenty minutes ago. She hadn't moved since. Ike had finished cleaning all the wounds and setting the broken bones a little over an hour ago. Together, they moved Sheppard into the spare room and settled him on a bed there. While Ike kept a close eye on their patient, Sadina was left to clean up. She gathered the towels and put them in the washer. The sheet was beyond cleaning and she threw it away. No matter how hard she scrubbed, the stain on the floor wouldn't come out. She gave up after a while and crawled onto the couch, suddenly realizing how late it was.

Things were getting to her now…wearing her down. She didn't know how she felt…how she _should_ feel. How should one react to an intrusion like this? A man broke into her dwelling. A sick, injured man had gotten inside her living room. How does one deal with that? Sadina just wanted to cry.

"Ms. Savin?" Ike was standing in front of her, holding a mug. "Drink this. It'll help you relax." He said, pushing the mug into her hands. Sadina nodded and took it without saying anything. Ike sat down in the chair closest to the bedrooms. "The fever is starting to come down. He's going to pull through." Ike told her. She nodded again but still stayed silent, sipping on the warm fluid that was in the mug.

Sadina could sense that Ike wanted to say something but was feeling too awkward to actually say it. Really, it was her turn to say something anyway but she didn't care. If the student doctor wanted to say something well…let him say it. She slowly stretched her legs out on the couch and closed her eyes, suddenly desiring a hot shower over anything else.

"Um…"Ike laughed nervously. Sadina opened her eyes to look at him, a silent signal for him to continue with what he wanted to say. "Uh, I forgot to ask you what his name was." Ike was turning red as if the name thing was a big deal. Sadina blinked; her mind suddenly blank for a moment.

"John…John Sheppard." She finally said, remembering what the man told her early that evening. Ike nodded.

"Does he liked to be called anything in particular?" Ike asked. Sadina shrugged. "How do you know him?" The young man asked. Sadina snorted.

"I don't. I have no idea who he is." She admitted. Ike gave her a strange look.

"What do you mean?" He demanded.

"He…broke into my dwelling. I don't know who he is." Sadina rolled the hot mug between her hands. Ike stared at her.

"He's…You need to call the authorities." He insisted.

"John Sheppard isn't dangerous. He couldn't hurt a fly right now even if he wanted to." Sadina claimed. The excuse sounded hollow in her ears. Rain pattered down softly outside the dwelling, washing dirt and dust down to the lower levels. If only this problem could wash away so easily.

"He's the escaped prisoner." Ike mused. Sadina's head snapped up. Ike had a troubled look to him. "There was an announcement about an escaped prisoner earlier…"He explained to her. "I just aided a known criminal." He muttered to himself.

"How do you know he's from the prison?" Sadina asked.

"The wounds." Ike's hands shot up in frustration. "The wounds are too methodical, too thorough, be some random gang beating. The whip marks…that's a tool the prison guards use." Ike paced. "You have to call the authorities."

Sadina's stomach tied itself into a knot at the thought of calling the police on the man. She had looked into the eyes of a criminal before, this man…he was different. She stiffly shook her head.

"Then I have to turn him in." Ike said quietly.

"It'll kill him." Sadina suddenly said. The words jumped out of her throat before she even knew what she was saying. But the words stopped Ike cold. He was a doctor, a healer, too purposefully put someone in harms way was…difficult. Sadina pressed on. "If you call the authorities, they will take him back to the prison. I don't think he'll survive another stay there." She let that sink in. Ike stared at the floor.

"I don't like it." He finally said. "Do you have any idea what your doing?" Sadina barked a hysterical laugh.

"Nope." She said meekly. Then she lowered her head and watched the steam swirl around the rim of the mug as cool air mixed with the hot liquid. The silence stretched out as both people mused over the terrible situation. Sadina knew she would never be able to turn Sheppard in. So what was she going to do? She was going to nurse him back to health and then…and then she imagined he would go his merry way. But none of this would happen if the authorities were called. The man would probably rot in prison and Sadina would probably lose everything. Unless she was pegged as an accomplice to whatever this guy had done; then she would probably rot in prison right along side this man who she didn't even know. Her life was now in the hands of yet another man she didn't know. Sadina was tempted to ask Ike what he planned on doing but then she decided not too. She almost didn't want to know. But she didn't have long to wonder. Ike cleared his throat.

"I can't knowingly send anyone to that cesspit." He finally said. "But it doesn't mean I like what we're doing." Sadina breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Ike." She mumbled, letting her eyelids slide shut as exhaustion settled heavily on her body.

"Don't." He snapped. "You have put me in a very dangerous position Ms. Savin. Don't forget that." Ike growled. "And get some sleep."

oOo

* * *

Ooo the plot thickens...

A/N: The next chapter may be awhile in coming cuz i didn't like the way it was put together so i have to rewrite the entire thing... I won't be more than a week and a half, i promise!


	13. While You Were Out

oOo

Samantha Carter rubbed the back of her neck, feeling the beginnings of a migraine trying to sneak up on her. Not surprising considering what had been happening in the past few days. Negotiations to get Sheppard back had failed miserably. They ended with Admare declaring them enemies of Brillez. What was worse was that they had wasted precious time in the negotiations. They'd had a week to get Sheppard out. That was four days ago. After that week, Sheppard would be executed and his body would be incinerated. Obviously, this couldn't happen.

In fact, Sam was waiting for an update on plan B at this very moment. Major Lorne and his team, plus McKay, Teyla and Ronon, had taken a cloaked jumper to the planet a while ago. A long while… 15 hours. It wasn't all that alarming. They anticipated this. They anticipated a lot of things. But there was still so much that could go wrong. There was so much that they just didn't know. The plan was to try and find Sheppard the old fashioned way; landing the jumper somewhere in the city then doing some investigating to try and find him. McKay insisted that the handheld scanners wouldn't work in the city due to the electronic interference. They were to check in as soon as possible…_if_ possible.

So now she could only wait.

Sam never liked waiting. One might think that ten years at the SGC would have taught her a few things about patience. Actually, ten years at the SGC had given her all of the experience a person could want but it had completely ruined things like patience.

The 'Gate suddenly whirled to life with the accompany clang of alarms.

"Unscheduled off-world activation." Chuck dutifully yelled in her direction. Sam was already on her feet and sprinting the short distance from her office to the control room.

"Dr. McKay's IDC ma'am." Chuck informed her. She nodded. The shield was raised and scarce seconds went by before a group of people stumbled through. Sam didn't need to ask them to know how it went.

Sheppard was not among them.

And then she spied a crudely made stretcher baring the bloody mess of Major Lorne.

"Medical emergency!" Teyla yelled from her position next to the major.

"Medical emergency in the 'Gate room." Sam snapped into her radio then practically flew down the steps to the team. "What happened?" She demanded. However, she stopped herself. "Never mind, tell me later." Sam insisted. Her hand flew to cover her astonished gasp as she regarded Lorne. It was almost impossible to see what was wrong with all the bandages and blood that covered everything. But she did notice the way his left leg was just a few inches longer than the right. And she noticed the way his ankle sat at an odd angle from the rest of his leg. And she also noted the way Rodney was pointedly trying to look in her direction but kept turning away after a few seconds, a greenish hue to his face. If Sam hadn't been a solider, she probably would have freaked. However, she was, unfortunately, used to war wounds. Although, the sight of Major Lorne _did_ make her stomach churn.

"Out of my way!" Dr. Keller yelled as she ran, gurney rolling beside her and a pack of nurses in her wake. Carter moved back to make room for the medical team as they swept in to take care of the Major. She watched for a few moments as the gently, though swiftly, moved him onto the gurney. Then she whirled around. "Rodney, Teyla, Ronon, in my office now. I need to know what happened."

"Can we not wait and see how Major Lorne is doing?" Teyla asked, her face full of concern. Sam hesitated.

"I would love to, but we don't have time to wait." She gave an apologetic look. "You need to tell me what happened." Sam jerked her head upward. "In my office." Without waiting, Samantha turned on her heels and trotted up the stairs, wanting desperately to be running for the infirmary but knowing that time wasted there could mean death for Sheppard. Sam waited for all three people to enter her office before she sat down behind her desk.

Carter realized that they must have _just_ been attacked or something. She noticed the little things like Rodney's wide eyed and shifting gaze, Teyla's tense ready stance, Ronon's careful placement near the door…

"What happened?" She asked a bit more calmly than before. Rodney gave a nervous chuckle.

"You want the long version or the short one?" He asked somewhat hysterically.

"Give it to me in a nutshell." She told him.

"Right, nut-shelling… Ok so we um…we got there unnoticed and…well, we thought we were unnoticed and then we started to try and find where they might have kept him and then we were suddenly noticed and have been running for the past ten hours whilst trying to fight our way back to the jumper. Major Lorne got caught in an explosion, some sort of grenade or something, and we decided to just get back to the gate and abandon the jumper. That was…what, fifteen minutes ago?" He glanced at Teyla briefly before continuing his rapid explanation. "Anyway, we fought our way to the gate and here we are…" He looked around as if searching for any other information that might have been important. The poor scientist was still rattled and nervous.

"Did you get anywhere in finding Colonel Sheppard?" Carter asked. It was Teyla who answered her this time.

"We were able to learn the location of the prison. But we are unsure as to whether he is being kept there or not." Teyla explained.

"He better not be there…" Ronon growled. He stood with his arms firmly crossed as though he might strangle someone if they weren't. Sam shot him a questioning look but it was Teyla who explained.

"One of the citizens expressed a certain…resentment towards the prison. It seems as though the conditions of it are appalling." She was looking worried now. Sam couldn't say anything to that so silence stretched out for several minutes.

"Ok…"Sam finally said, clasping her hands together and resting her chin on them as her elbows sat on the table. "Ok. Plan C, we take the Daedalus, find his transmitter signal and beam him out of there." She looked at each of the three people in the room.

"Carter, I don't think we can get a signal." Rodney snapped. Sam held up her hands defensively.

"I know, it's a long shot but I can't send anyone to the planet's surface again. Not when there's a chance we can beam him aboard. The Daedalus is in orbit now so we can leave as soon as you're ready." Sam paused to let that sink in before continuing. "I've really thought about this. It will take a little over twenty four hours to reach the planet with the Daedalus and if we think of a better plan on the way there, so be it. But we need to leave as soon as possible."

"I'm ready, let's go." Rodney suddenly piped.

"I am as well." Teyla insisted.

Ronon grunted. A man of few words indeed. Sam nodded then tapped her radio.

"We're ready, beam us aboard."

oOo

"_Colonel Carter to the bridge."_ The voice buzzed over her radio. Sam leapt up from the table she was sitting at and ran off to the bridge. She had tagged along with the rest of AT-1 despite it being proper procedure for the leader of Atlantis to stay behind. She just _couldn't_ stay behind during something like this.

As she entered the bridge, Sam saw Ronon, Teyla and Rodney all there. Each one looked anxious. Except for Ronon, he looked like he was ready to brave the vacuum of space to find his CO.

"What's up?" Carter asked no one in particular. It was Rodney who answered.

"We're coming out of hyperspace." He said.

"Good." She nodded. Even as she said the word, the ship dropped into the space above the planet. The city was on that planet, Sheppard was in that city. Even from space, one could actually see the ugly gray lump of a city on the planet's surface.

"We're being hailed." One of the technicians reported.

"Open a channel." Caldwell ordered. Almost instantly a voice came over the radio.

"_Please identify your vessel and present your authorization code."_ The harsh voice ordered. Those on the bridge shared a worried look. No one anticipated such security in the space above the planet. A quick look outside of the windows showed a handful of ships in orbit along with a ring of asteroids ands random debris. None of the ships made a move toward the Daedalus. The voice repeated itself and Caldwell was looking the others for an answer to give it. They all knew what no one was saying; there was no way to bluff their way out of this one.

"Scan for Sheppard's transmitter." Carter ordered.

"On it." Rodney said as he moved for the nearest workstation.

"Hurry Rodney." Sam said firmly.

"Yes yes, I know." He said distractedly. "I need to recalibrate the scanners; they aren't picking up much of anything from the city." He said, thinking out loud. By now, the harsh voice was threatening them and ordering them to leave immediately.

"McKay!" Caldwell snapped. "Find him now!"

"Yelling at me will not make the scanner work faster!" Rodney shrieked.

"We don't have much time." Ronon growled.

"I know! You don't have to remind me!" McKay yelled. All of a sudden, the alarms started to blare.

"Wraith hiveship inbound." Caldwell suddenly barked. The familiar form of the wraith ship loomed up from behind a large asteroid. Everyone in the room tensed. Carter instantly remembered what the team had told her about their driver's statement about the wraith hive being in orbit. At the time, she hadn't believed what the driver had said. Sam believed him now.

"Dr. McKay, I cannot wait long." Caldwell shouted firmly.

"One more minute…" Rodney insisted. "Just one more."

The wraith ship started firing and Caldwell started shouting orders to those around him. Shields were raised. "Return fire!" Carter shouted, sliding into the co-pilots seat next to Caldwell. "Two more unidentified ships inbound!" She yelled. Caldwell cursed.

"We can't hold them all off." He insisted firmly. "Get us into hyperspace." He ordered the crew. In an instant, a hyperspace window was opened and the ship launched into it; moving sluggishly, as if shedding a heavy cloak, before shooting into hyperspace.

When they were safely away, Sam slumped in her chair and closed her eyes. The headache assaulted her with full force. That had been too close for comfort.

"Ok that…that didn't go so well." Rodney said dryly. "So what's plan D?"

oOo

The trip back to Atlantis took well over a day; time they didn't have. A sense of doom and sorrow had gripped Sheppard's team with surprising force. For most of the trip, they were clustered around a table trying to figure out a plan D. They attacked this new problem with a frantic energy, knowing what would happen if they failed.

But the hours ticked by and the ship soon dropped out of hyperspace and the ship established an orbit around the planet that now held the city of Atlantis. It was then that they settled on their plan D. As soon as they had beamed down to the city, Rodney, Ronon and Teyla were already on the move for the Jumper bay, determined not to waste any time.

Rodney settled into the pilot's seat and started the jumper up when the control room radioed.

"_Hold for a moment Dr. McKay, we have an unscheduled off-world activation."_

"Copy that. Let's hurry this along, shall we?" He snapped. There was no reply and silence stretched out to fill the small space. Five minutes….ten… It was too much silence to be comfortable…

"_Rodney?"_ It was Samantha. She sounded…off. Something was wrong.

"Sam, we need to go now." Rodney insisted.

"_No Rodney…It's too late."_

* * *

A/N: There will be one more bit on the rest of the team and then its back to being a Shep Centric fic…there, ya happy now? And i realize this chapter was a bit rushed but thats because i didn't want to dwell all that much on the team. Maybe some day i'll fix that... Anywho...Holla back ya'll! 


	14. Hello My Name is John

oOo

Dr. Keller chewed her lip. She didn't want to face the three expectant faces behind her but she had no choice. No choice…

"Well…" She started off, turning to look at Teyla, Colonel Carter and Dr. McKay. "I can't get any DNA out of the ashes but there are traces of…well…traces that haven't been fully burned." She paused for a second. "Some of the traces I can't identify but there are some traces of blood, flakes of skin, even a chip of tooth that definitely belongs to Colonel Sheppard. I'm…I'm so sorry." She said softly.

"Thank you Dr. Keller." Carter said. The three people quietly filed out of the room, saying nothing more; though Jennifer thought she heard a sniffle from someone trying to hold back tears. She ran a hand through her hair and closed her eyes for a moment. Sometimes being a doctor really sucked.

Dr. Keller started putting things away, trying to occupy her thoughts with busy work. Then she felt a pair of eyes on her and she slowly turned.

"Ronon?"

The big man stood in the doorway, taking up most of its space.

"Are you ok?" Keller asked, taking a step forward. Ronon just stared at her with a strange mix of emotions in his big brown eyes. Jennifer wanted to run up and give him a hug and tell him everything was going to be alright but there was something else, other than pain, that smoldered within the hidden depths of his eyes…something menacing.

"Is it him?" Ronon finally asked, his voice slightly husky. Jennifer pursed her lips together and nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure." Keller insisted. Ronon nodded and looked away. Jennifer could have kicked herself. "Are…are you ok Ronon?" She asked. "Do you want to talk? I'm sure this is tough. I'd want someone to talk to." Ronon didn't say anything for while as he mused over her words.

"I'm not staying." He finally said.

"But you can't leave just because Shepp— I mean...I-_we_ need you here Ronon." Jennifer pleaded. She really _truly_ didn't want the man to leave. Not now…

"I'm coming back after I find away onto that planet so I kill the man who did this." Ronon stated with more venom then Jennifer had ever heard before. She was taken aback. She could only stare at him, open mouthed. Ronon stared back. The silence stretched out for seconds then minutes. Finally, Jennifer tried to smile a bit.

"Well…Good luck." She offered meekly. Ronon nodded.

And then he was gone.

oOo

_Marklov stumbled forward and caught him, gripping John's arms in his bloody hands. John struggled to get away but he couldn't… Admare was behind him, pushing him forward into the other man. John gritted his teeth and pushed sideways, eager to escape the blood that was spilling forth from the massive hole in Marklov's stomach. Then bile shot into John's mouth as the blood mixed with oozing fat that squelched against his chest as Admare continued to push him and Marklov continued to grab at him._

"_NO!" John yelled, his voice hoarse from shouting…screaming. Marklov answered his call with a long anguished moan. The man's eyes were perfectly round and his mouth was stretched open as the moan turned into a tortured scream._

_John's heart nearly stopped…_

oOo

"Jeppar! Calm down!" Sadina pleaded. Just a few moments ago, Sheppard was sleeping calmly and then Sadina had walked in to find him mumbling and thrashing about. It looked like he was having one heck of a nightmare. "Please, please calm down." She muttered. But that wasn't happening. "Ike! Ike get in here!" She shouted into the open doorway. Blood was starting to seep out from beneath the thrashing man which could only mean he tore the bindings on his back. "No no no no no…" She muttered. "Come on, please wake up! Wake up Jeppar…"

Jeppar. Sadina thought of the trader name after one of the many hours from the many days spent at his bed side, waiting for him to regain consciousness. Now that she thought about it, she felt like she was a small child naming a stray animal.

_Can I keep him, Madre? Please?_

But this was a man, not some mangy creature. This was John Sheppard whipping about on the bed in terror. Ike had run in at some point though Sadina wasn't sure when. He pushed Sadina out of the way. Looking at Ike now, she could see a flash of panic in his eyes.

"Ms. Savin? You need to try and calm him down!" Ike ordered in a wavering voice.

No duh.

Sadina leaned in low and started to whisper things into Sheppard's ear, trying to get through to him in some way…any way. The words were having some effect on him but it wasn't enough so she started humming.

Sheppard's eyes snapped open; he sucked in a deep breath, and then attempted to launch himself backwards. He regarded them with wide eyes that were filled with confusion. That confusion slowly became directed at his arm which was strapped down in effort to immobilize it.

"It's ok Jeppar. You're ok." She said quietly. The hazel eyes flicked up to stare at her.

oOo

_It's ok._

John's mind and heart were racing. He didn't know what was going on…or why his arm was tied to his chest…or why Marklov wasn't standing before him. He almost thought for a second that he had woken up from one nightmare only to be thrust into another. But the faces gazing at him were hardly nightmarish. They were worried but not terrorizing.

Flashes from the nightmare were still dancing before his eyes and John realized he was gasping for breath. And that he was shaking like a leaf in the wind.

_It's ok._

He swallowed hard and closed his eyes, letting his head flop back down onto the soft surface beneath him. John focused solely on calming his frantic lungs. Sweat slicked skin was starting to cool as air wafted across the clammy damp surface. It made him shiver.

_What's going on…_

John took one big deep breath. And then another. He was into his third deep breath when a sharp pain suddenly exploded across his back. It made him sick to his stomach. And it brought back sharp bitter memories of cold stone walls and grinning guards and the sound of leather against skin.

John forced his eyes open. The face's had turned from worried to expectant, as if he was supposed to say something. John didn't have anything to say but then again, he hadn't had much time to think about it. He really just wanted to curl up and be unconscious for a while but judging by the looks on the two faces, that wouldn't be happening any time soon…if pervious experiences with Beckett were anything to go by. It hit John then that he didn't actually know what had happened to cause him to be in this strange bed staring at these strange faces. Well, that was to say, he remembered the prison stay in agonizing clarity but he couldn't quite connect the dots between now and then.

One thing was for sure. He hurt. A lot. Just how much was slowly making itself known as the seconds ticked by. Perhaps these expectant faces happened to have some pain killers on hand. How does one ask for something like that from a complete stranger? And who were these people? Where was he? What the heck happened? Most importantly, how was he getting home?

John figured he should start somewhere with the questions. "Um…" He croaked, rather disliking the tacky dryness that sat heavily on his tongue. "Who—"

"I'm Sadina." The woman jumped right in. She seemed eager enough to supply him with answers. "You're ok."

She kept saying that. Did he really look that out of it?

The blond headed man took another step closer and bent down to pry his eyelids apart to study his eyes. Perhaps he was the doctor. Regardless, John jerked his head back in protest.

"Shhh, its ok Jeppar." The woman, Sadina, said. He was oddly offended by it. She spoke as if he was a cornered animal.

"…'m not a freakin' animal…" He mumbled. It was suddenly getting harder to stay focus. Pain was starting to become more than a vague sensation lingering in the back of his mind. He must have physically winced because Sadina repeated her mantra yet again. John wanted to tell her to stop it but he was getting tired. Weariness tugged at him. It was the kind of lethargy that told he wasn't quite healthy. Which just sucked…

"You're going to be fine, Mr. Sheppard." It was the man who spoke this time. The nameless man. He had said it with a smile that was _supposed_ to be friendly and reassuring.

John got the distinct feeling that things weren't going to be fine…

* * *

A/N: I am so so sorry that this wasn't posted a week ago..i had issues with my computer and the site was acting up and yadda yadda yadda... Anywho, the next chapter should be up really soon... 


	15. Queen of the World

oOo

Admare straightened his jacket for the umpteenth time. Then he checked his hair again. There really was no need to look his utter best…the beast could hardly care what humans looked like. At least, that's what Admare told himself. But there was, however, a great need to feel nervous, despite the numerous trade agreements and years of peace. It was a well oiled machine…but being the head of that machine was a precarious position. Admare almost regretted taking Marklov out of the picture… _almost._

It was time. Admare cracked his neck and put a hand on the door to the conference room. _Deep breath. Open the door._

"Good day. I am Admare, sovereign of Brillez" Admare snapped smartly as he strode into the room. He didn't even look at the guest until he had settled himself at the head of the table and set his paperwork out neatly before him. _Then_ Admare glanced up at his…guest.

"May I ask what happened to Marklov?" Came a raspy, bi-toned voice.

"He was met with an unfortunate accident." Admare explained. A rumbling chuckle spilled out from between sharply pointed teeth.

"Of course. An _unfortunate_ accident."

"I didn't kill him." Admare insisted, trying to keep his anger in check. The pale greenish-gray face nodded.

"Of course."

Admare swallowed a thick wad of spittle that had pooled in the back of his throat. "Despite this sudden change, the trade agreement will remain the same: access to the organic resources as protected by the Ancient outpost and 6.4 of the overall whole of Brillez in exchange for your protection. This percentage will be pre-selected by the people of Brillez." Admare pulled together his courage to stare the wraith in the eye. "Do we have an accord?"

"We do indeed." The queen affirmed. A small smirk tugged at the tight skin around her mouth. "And what of specialties?"

"As it was before. I will give you a list of specialties at regular intervals. Price's will be negotiated at those intervals. Is this satisfactory?"

"Quite."

"Very well." Admare pushed his papers back into a stack. "I have arranged some refreshment for you." He waved at a guard standing by the door. The man knocked on the hard wood.

The queen's eyebrow shot up. "Did you now? This was not expected." She smiled. "I have not been met with such respect for many years now."

"Yes well, my processor did not think highly of this arrangement." Admare found himself relaxing slightly.

"And what of his demise?" The wraith asked.

"He was murdered in his office by a supposed traveler." Admare explained.

"This traveler, what was his name?" She asked. The man stiffened.

"Why would want to know?" He demanded.

"Peace." The queen purred. "I wish to know the name of the man who has made my life more pleasant."

Admare huffed bad-temperedly. "His name is Sheppard." The queen hissed.

"Interesting…" Her voice was low. "Do you have him in custody?" Admare shook his head.

"No, he has been executed."

"Pity."

The door swung open slowly and a man shuffled in with two guards on either side of him. The man instantly stiffened when he saw the wraith. "What's going on?" He demanded. "This have anything to do with the security thing that happened last week? I swear, I'm not associated with whoever those people were that came through the 'gate. I just…I was just trying to leave. Bad timing. That's the only reason I was there, bad timing. Please, I just wanna get off this plan—"

"He is a fine specimen, I assure you." Admare said, speaking over the man's ranting. "Have a good day." He said finally and got up to leave. The queen grinned wickedly and stood as well, eyeing the babbling man. Admare quickened his pace, not wanting to stick around.

He had just shut the door as the man started to scream.

oOo

John didn't trust them. That was the simple fact that had been bugging him. The thing was, he couldn't very well do anything about it. His feet couldn't bear weight, his back screamed in agony anytime he bent it and he couldn't move his shoulder without pulling the so-called stitches. Not to mention the fact that he could hardly sit upright.

John realized he was stuck. The injuries he could always handle but it was being stranded on the planet that killed him. Almost any other planet would have been fine but no, it had to be _this_ planet that he was stuck on. It was _this_ planet that had it out for him, and for good reason. He would even take fighting the wraith over this. Why? John decided he was running. He was running away from his guilt. He was running away from Marklov. John just wanted to get away…

A loud crack made him jump. However, a quick look at the door proved that it wasn't a crazed corpse coming to get him. No, it was the woman instead, Sadina. She bumped the door open with her hip while balancing a tray in her hands.

"Good morning Jeppar." She said somewhat cheerfully. John wasn't quite in the mood to respond. He just looked down at the colorful blanket on the bed and said nothing. Sadina's awkwardness was palpable when he didn't say anything. "Hungry?" She asked. For the first time, John noticed sweet, hot scent. He looked up and nodded. Sadina smiled. She set the tray on the table and then gently lifted him up slightly to push another pillow behind his back. Despite her gentle movement, John still hissed in pain and actually found himself resenting her touch. He resented all touch at this point. And company. John just wanted to be left alone. He wanted people to stop causing pain and asking dumb questions and saying stupid monosyllable words and trying to convince him that everything was fine. John wasn't fine. He didn't feel ok. And yet…

And yet he knew that wasn't fair to Sadina or the doctor. They couldn't possibly know what had happened to him. They were just trying to help. John knew he should be grateful. But still, he wished they would leave him alone for a while.

Then those thoughts were temporarily silenced as Sadina brought a steaming bowl towards him. She hesitated for a moment. "I don't really…um, I don't exactly know what I'm doing. I mean, I've never taken care of a sick person before."

It was just his luck to get the inexperienced bed nurse. Had he been in a decent frame of mind, he probably would have had pity on the poor woman; maybe even given her some nursing tips from his experience as a regular infirmary occupant. Unfortunately, John currently wasn't in the mood to be accommodating.

"Where's your doctor boy?" John asked sullenly.

"Ike? He's a student so he's at school right now. He'll be back later to check on your injuries." Sadina explained. John cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh boy." John's mouth flinched up in a tight sarcastic hapless smile. "Hold the bowl and give me a spoon." John ordered her.

"O-oh." Her face turned red and John _almost_ felt bad. She handed him the spoon and held the bowl low enough for him to get the spoon into it.

John was surprised at how heavy his arm was as he lifted it. He slowly pushed a loaded spoon into his mouth and inadvertently sighed in content. Whatever it was, it was sweet and tart, like raspberries in honey. It was thick and warm as it slid down into his starved stomach. John suddenly realized just how hungry he was. He pushed his arm to move quicker in effort to get the food in his system faster. When his arm started shaking, Sadina took the spoon from him.

"Ike doesn't want you eating so much at first. He said something about a shock on your system." She explained.

"He's an idiot." John snapped. Sadina gave him a sympathetic smile.

"I'm sorry." She said as she set the bowl back on the tray. The woman truly did look apologetic. _Now_ John felt bad for snapping.

"No, its ok." John said. "When are you going to let me eat again?" He asked, trying to be a bit less grumpy.

"Soon." She promised. "After you wake up."

"I'm not exactly in the mood to sleep." Or dream.

"You will be after you take these." She held out a couple of small pills. "Ike said it's something to help infection. And he said it would make you sleepy." John stared at her hand. He really _really_ didn't want to sleep.

"I'll wake you up." Sadina suddenly said. He looked up at her.

"What?"

"If you have a nightmare, I'll wake you up." She clarified. Now John felt really bad he snapped at her earlier. He swallowed heavily.

"Thank you."

She smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "Sleep well Jeppar."

* * *

A/N: See, i told ya this chapter would be posted soon. Surely this deserves some reviews... 


	16. ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha

oOo

Rolend crossed his arms and stared at the man in front of him. "Well?" Admare didn't even look at him. Rolend wasn't about to sit around while the other man finished his meal. If the new sovereign thought the chief of security was as unimportant as one of the maids-in-waiting, he was in for a very impolite shock. "Admare. What do you want me to do?" In response, the man just shoved in another mouthful of food. Rolend balled his hands into fists. "I have men down there, Admare. I can send them in at a moments notice, what do you want me to do?"

Finally, Admare set his utensils down and fixed Rolend with a mean glare. "You do not interrupt me when I am eating Rolend." He said. Rolend clenched his teeth together. Admare didn't wait for him to say anything. "Call them back. You are not to destroy the compound." Rolend nodded and turned to leave. He didn't want to spend any more time with the man then was necessary. He had just reached the door when Admare called out. "Watch yourself, Chief of Security. You may find yourself transferred to the outpost."

"Is that a threat?" Rolend demanded.

"Absolutely."

oOo

Sadina crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe and watched as Sheppard slept. This had become their ritual over the past eight days. He would fall asleep with her assurance that she would wake him up if things got hairy. She'd had to awaken him six times when the nightmares had gotten out of control. And each time she woke him up, he seemed to sink lower emotionally; as if he was embarrassed and depressed at the same time.

On top of that, the poor man still looked horrible. Healing bruises, rimmed in yellow and purple, stood out in stark difference to the pale skin. His back was red and swollen, making the whip marks look like the deep furrows in a farmer's field. Not to mention Sheppard's feet, which had _just_ started to shrink from their swollen state.

John shifted in his sleep and muttered something that she couldn't hear. Sadina was gripped with compassion for him. That compassion puzzled her. Sadina had always thought herself to be a strong independent woman, one who wasn't into the whole housewife thing and yet here she was taking care of a complete stranger as if he were family or something. She couldn't quite figure out what compelled her so strongly to nurse this man back to health.

A light buzzing noise flitted down the hall; someone was at the door. Sadina glanced once more at Jeppar then trotted down the hallway.

"Good morning Ike." Sadina said after opening the door. The young man dipped his head and smiled.

"Good morning. I thought I'd check Sheppard's wounds before I leave for lessons." He told her. "How is he doing?" Ike asked as they moved back down the hall.

"Don't ask me, I just try not to make weird noises when I change the bandages, he hates that." She insisted.

"I would too." Ike said with a grin. The young doctor slowed down as he entered the room of the sleeping man. He hesitated, almost not wanting to wake him. "Has he been sleeping a lot?" He asked quietly.

"More or less." Sadina said, nodding. "And the food has been staying _in_ his stomach." She added, anticipating the question.

"Good good." Ike muttered as he set out a few things from the big bag he always carried with him. Then Ike sat down on the chair next to the sleeping man and shook him gently. "Mr. Sheppard?"

The man in question flinched awake with a start and a gasp, eyes wide in fear. And then the fear melted into discomfort. Sheppard closed his eyes and moaned softly. "Your bedside manner sucks." He mumbled and Sadina couldn't help but snort a laugh. Jeppar cracked an eyelid and fixed her with a glare. "Yours sucks too." He insisted.

Ike smiled. "Wanna sit up?" He asked. Jeppar glared at him, not saying anything. Ike nodded. "Ok, Ms. Savin, can you help me please?" Sadina moved to sit on the side of the bed and Ike took up position behind Sheppard's head. Together, they pulled Sheppard into a sitting position.

Sadina could feel Jeppar's body tense and heard the sharp intake of breath. The settled his body weight so that she supported him entirely, exposing his back to Ike's careful gaze. The student slowly pulled away the self-adhering bandages and studied the wounds. Sadina couldn't see the wounds but she could smell the heavy scent of medication tinted with old blood. The breath whooshed out of Sheppard's lungs in a shaky sigh when the bandages finally released their hold on his tender skin. Ike swabbed the entire area with a damp cloth, earning several shudders and flinches from the man in her grasp. Sheppard needed a distraction.

"You go out much Jeppar?" She asked.

"Huh?" Sheppard ground out from behind clenched teeth.

"Do you like to go out for a meal or anything?"

His shoulders shook in what she thought was a chuckle but she couldn't be sure. "Yeah…sure." He mumbled.

"Where's your favorite place to go?" Sadina asked.

"Chucky-Cheese." He said.

"I've never heard of it. What's it like?"

"It's got…pizza and games…and a big creepy mouse." He flinched and growled against the pain.

"Pizza?" Now she was genuinely curious.

"Best thing you'll ever eat." He insisted. Ike caught her eye and nodded down to his hand. He was holding a bottle of disinfectant and Sadina nodded. This was always the worse part.

"How do you make it?" She asked.

"Cheese and tomato sauce on a…flat…bread. I add meat to mine. Some people like pineapple…fish. Crap like that." Sheppard suddenly tensed all the way up and groaned. His head slid down and buried itself in her shoulder. Sadina absentmindedly put a hand on top of his haphazard hair and shot a pleading look towards Ike. The doctor nodded knowingly and stopped swabbing the wounds after a few seconds.

"All done, Mr. Sheppard." He said cheerfully. Jeppar grunted.

"You need some better meds doc." The injured man groused, his voice muffled by Sadina's shoulder. "Tell ya what, you get me back home and I'll get those meds for you."

Ike patted a large bandage down against the skin and smirked. "Where's home?"

"Far far away." Sheppard said on an exhale.

"What sector?" Sadina asked this time.

"ZZ9 plural Z alpha." The man said around a short, pained, breathy laugh.

"You're not from this planet." Ike decided. Sadina was shocked for a moment. She hadn't considered that possibility.

"Nope." Jeppar said sarcastically. Ike finished his work and stacked a few pillows behind the man before they helped him lean back.

"You're healing well." Ike insisted. Sadina watched Sheppard's face as he processed the words and evaluated their truth.

"When can I walk?" Sheppard asked. Ike smiled.

"Let's check your feet and find out."

"Yes…let's." Jeppar mumbled sarcastically. Sadina almost smiled at him. Ike just ignored him and peeled back the layers of blankets to reveal to heavily wrapped, vaguely foot shaped bundles. Sadina knew for a fact that the bundles were cold due to a thick layer of cooling paste that was applied to take down the swelling. As Ike slowly cleared away the wrapping, Sadina saw that it worked. The feet were black and blue but down to their original size. She glanced at Sheppard and saw a mix of relief and dread flitting about on his face.

Ike pulled out a scanner and slowly moved it over each foot. When he was done he smiled. "Your feet are healing nicely." He insisted. "I'm going to try and obtain a chemical that will speed up the reconstruction of the bones a great deal. I'm not making any promises though, being a student, I might not be able to get the chemical."

Sheppard nodded. Then the man dropped his gaze slightly. "Thank you." Ike smiled again.

"Your welcome." He said then turned to Sadina and nodded then gathered his things and left the room. Sadina hesitated then followed him out. She waited until they were in her living area before saying anything.

"Ike, we need to do something. Jeppar is…he's always so closed and…sad." She struggled to find the right words. "I want to do something to distract him. You know…get him out of that room."

Ike spun around to face her. "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" She asked, indignant.

"You don't know this man. For that matter, this man is a criminal and you don't know why or what he is capable of." Ike's smile was gone. "We don't know who he is, why do you feel the need to accommodate him?"

"Why can't I be accommodating?" Sadina challenged. "What's wrong with being nice? This man needs help so I'm going to help him."

Ike sighed heavily. "You're a bad influence." He muttered under his breath. "I'll see what I can do. Think of some place to take him." He instructed her. "And you might want to find him some clothes. I'll stop by after school."

Sadina smiled sweetly at him. "Thank you Ike."

"Goodbye." He snapped moodily.

"Bye." She said as he shut the door behind him. Sadina smiled at the empty room. It felt good to be accommodating.

* * *

**A/N: Look at that! Two fast chapters in a row!**


	17. Night Life

oOo

John stared at the wall before him. His mind was blank and he was working hard to keep it that way. No thoughts. No imagining.

Nothing.

His nothingness wasn't helped much by Sadina's constant intrusions. But that wasn't fair. John felt horrible for being so irked by her. The woman was only trying to help him and he knew he should be extremely grateful. But something was holding onto him that wouldn't let him fully appreciate what she was doing. Perhaps…

But no. He didn't want to think. He didn't want to think about how drab these pale walls were compared to the vibrant walls in Atlantis. He didn't want to think about how potent earth painkillers were compared to the crap they gave him here. He didn't want to think about how disappointed everyone would be when the found out what he did. He didn't want to think about Rodney's poorly hidden shock or Ronon's 'do what you have to, to survive' attitude or Teyla's ever forgiving embrace.

He didn't want to think about the man he killed. The man he murdered. In cold blood. Just to save his own skinny butt.

John's fist whipped out to knock a heavy lamp off the bedside table. The thick glass hit the wall with a resounding crack but it didn't shatter. Sheppard stared at it. It was supposed to have shattered into a million pieces but it didn't.

"Jeppar?" Sadina stood in the doorway. He turned away. "Are you ok?" She asked. John stiffly shook his head. He was very much _not_ ok. She was at his side in an instant. "What's wrong? Jeppar?"

"My name is Sheppard." He snapped. The words came out of no where and surprised even him. Sadina stared at him for a moment then a small corner of her mouth quirked up.

"I'm sorry. You're obviously not from around here so I guess you wouldn't know. Around here, on level three, we use trader names. First names are to intimate, last names are too formal so we combine the two. It's only done on level three." She smiled sympathetically. "Sadina is combination of Addie Savin." She explained. "I'm sorry, I'll call you what ever you want."

John felt like a jerk. "Jeppar's fine." He said meekly.

"You sure?" Sadina asked.

John just nodded. "I'm sorry…for snapping."

She smiled warmly. "Don't be. I'd snap too if I was stuck in a strange world in a strange dwelling on top of being hurt."

John swallowed. Killing a man wasn't on her list of reasons to be grumpy.

"Brown or green?" Sadina suddenly asked.

"What?" John's eyebrows scrunched together.

"What color do you prefer, brown or green?"

"Um…green?" John was curious now. Sadina nodded and disappeared through the doorway. She came back a minute later with an arm full of cloth.

"We are going out." She announced. Then Sadina held up some green cloth which turned out to be a simple loose fitting shirt made of thin light material. John stared at her.

"I can't walk." He told her as if she forgot or something.

"You're not going to walk." Sadina informed him. She sat on the side of the bed and helped him sit up. With a careful hand, she loosened the bonds that held his arm to his chest and John slowly stretched the limb out, grateful for the release.

Being dressed by the stranger was an uncomfortable experience for John. He had qualms about being stripped by the nurses on Atlantis…being dressed by stranger just sucked. But he bit his tongue and clenched his teeth and let her ease his arms through the sleeves after pulling the shirt over his head.

"Looks good on you." Sadina insisted as she immobilized his arm again. "Brings out the green in your eyes."

John didn't know what to say so he merely studied the fabric with a new found interest. Then he thought of something that made his cheeks flush. "Pants."

Sadina's cheeks flushed as well. "Ike is um…he's gonna be here any moment now. He'll uh…do that." She stammered. John inwardly sighed in relief.

There was an awkward silence that stretched out until a buzzing echoed down the hallway. Sadina pointed out the door as she moved towards it. "Ike." She said simply then left. John looked down at the foreign shirt that covered his bruised chest. It seemed to hammer home the fact that he had nothing of Atlantis left, not even his clothes.

He didn't know how he felt about going out for a night on the town…with strangers…in a town that hated him.

It would be an interesting evening.

oOo

Ronon rotated the cup on its edge, spinning it around and around on the surface of the bar, swirling the dark amber liquid inside of it. A man sat down in the empty seat next to his own. After a moment of silence, Ronon slid a small bag in his direction. The man snatched the bag up and pried it open. There was another moment of silence before he spoke.

"I ain't got no guarantees." He started. "But I found a group of traders who are makin' their rounds. I heard tell they stop off at the big city but it's a big secret, ain't nobody is supposed to know. They're gonna be in Soja for the next few days." The man finally looked up at Ronon. "Don't know how you're going to get in wit them but that's you're problem." Without any more words, the man left.

Ronon was in Soja within the hour.

He located a ring of decorative tents in a field outside of the town and then he found an older, dark skinned woman who claimed to be the head of the group.

"I need to get to Brillez." Ronon said plainly. The woman didn't bat an eye.

"I do not know what you are talking about." She said flatly. Ronon leaned back against the tent pole and crossed his arms.

"A friend of mine was killed there; I'm out to find his killer." He explained. The woman regarded him with a long stare.

"I am not in the business of hauling around vengeance seekers." She told him flatly.

"How about hauling around a weapons dealer?" Ronon hefted the black duffel bag that had been slung across his back. The woman's eyebrow cocked upward.

"Let me see what you got." She ordered. Ronon unzipped the bag and the woman picked through the numerous wraith stunners and various knives. She nodded to herself. "Let me have the bag when we're done, to pay your way, and you can tag along."

"Deal." Ronon said with a smile.

"We don't stop in the city; we land in a small settlement out side of it." She warned.

"I'll get in from the ground." Ronon assured her. "What do you land in?"

The woman just smiled.

oOo

John wiggled slightly and smirked. There was hardly any pain in his movements. This was because of the amazing super chair, as John had taken to calling it. Getting into the strange looking contraption was painful enough to almost take away all desire to leave his bed. But then something wonderful happened; Ike turned it on. After that, John felt like he was sitting on a cloud. It was like some sort of super wheelchair only without the big hunky wheels as the thing floated two feet off the ground. He was a little put off by the fact that it looked a bit too much like a baby carrier but then the chair made up for itself by being so freakin' comfortable. Ike explained that the thing that kept it afloat was also put into use in the actual seat, at minimal power, so as to relieve all pressure on the occupant's body. John decided he wanted to bring one of these chairs back to Atlantis.

Ike pushed the chair along effortlessly. Sadina strolled along side of them. She insisted that she knew of a good place that had decent food that was _just_ around the corner. They still hadn't found it.

Conversation flitted back and forth between the two natives of the planet but John chose to keep his moth more or less shut and opted for listening to their words. He glanced up at Sadina and found her smiling at him, her lilac eyes sparkling.

"What?" John asked.

"You were smiling." She told him. John blinked and looked down. "See Ike? I told you this would be good for him." She said cheerfully to the man behind him. Sheppard was hit with a mix of emotions. On one hand, it felt good to be out in open air with the sun's ray's warming his weary body; and it felt good to be in friendly company for a change. But then he was also hit with a double dose of guilt. These two people near him, who were so kind, didn't know what he had done.

"Look!" Sadina pointed. "See, I told you it was just around the corner." John followed the direction of her finger and his heart sank. The building was surrounded by a long line of talkative people. The line never seemed to get any shorter; as soon as someone got inside, more people stepped up to take their place in line. John was hit with a wave of claustrophobia. Sadina seemed to sense it.

"Don't worry, we have a table outside." She assured him. John was surprised at how well she was able to read him. Was he _that_ transparent?

Sadina wormed her way through the thick throng of people who were crowded outside of the restaurant. Ike had to hurry to keep up before the path she had carved swelled shut with the pressing bodies. Once they were through the initial throng of people, Sadina found a table that was next to square, man-made looking lake. She punched in a code in a key pad and chairs rose up from the ground. John had to smile at the blatant sci-fi-ness of the thing. John was settled on one side of the table, right where the sun reached through the tall buildings. Ike sat at the head of the table and Sadina sat across from John. Sadina leaned forward and opened her mouth then stopped short of saying anything and laughed.

"What?" John asked, feeling embarrassed…or something.

"Nothing, I was just going to ask what you wanted to eat." She bit her lip and smiled. "Never mind." She said in a sing-song voice.

"I can go order." Ike offered.

"Thanks Ike. Get me what ever is popular today." She informed him. The blond man nodded and made his way back into the throng. John leaned back and stared at the water. It seemed a bit strange that the lake was here. It was as if the lake was one last grasp at nature in this artificial city. Still…it was beautiful. John looked over at Sadina. She sat with her elbows propped up on the table as she looked out over the lake. The woman had a way of setting him at ease; more so than anything else at least. She seemed like…a regular person from earth. Almost. And even just sitting here… It was a night on the town just like he would have done on earth.

"This is nice." John found himself saying. He suddenly realized that he had relaxed. It felt good.

"Yeah…it is." Sadina smiled. "I'm afraid I'm horrible with um…injured houseguests. This is the only thing I do often."

"Well, you're not a nurse but you do good enough." John insisted. There was a moment of comfortable silence.

"Jeppar? Where are you going to go?" She suddenly asked.

"Home." He said simply. "When are you going to let me leave?" He asked. The subject seemed to fit with the last question she asked; John decided he might as well figure this stuff out sooner rather than later. Sadina looked curiously at him.

"_Let_ you leave? You can go whenever you want…I just assumed you'd wait until you could actually _walk_."

John felt foolish; it had been a while since anyone hadn't forced him to heal in one spot. "Oh…well, I guess that makes sense." He said quietly. "But if you could…never mind." He stopped himself from asking to be taken to the gate for the simple reason that he was a criminal…he didn't exactly want to get his saviors in trouble with the law for trying to get him through the gate.

Sadina looked at him for a moment. "You'll get home." She insisted. John nodded, not necessarily believing her. He sighed heavily and looked out at the water. "That's it." Sadina suddenly said. John looked over at her. "No more business." She said firmly.

"Business? This is my _life_ we're talking about here." John said indignantly.

"Ok, enough life then. Let it go for tonight…just tonight." She told him, her eyes sparkling. John narrowed his eyes.

"Easy for you to say." He snapped grumpily. The woman across from him snorted.

"Stop being a woman." She ordered. John stared at her, not quite sure he heard what he thought he heard.

"Excuse me?"

"One moment, you're enjoying yourself and then next moment, you're complaining. You're being a woman, stop it." She crossed her arms and stared back at him, a smile tugging at her lips. John's eyebrow slowly lifted up. What she said was so absurd, so ridiculous…

"Well stop being a McKay." He retorted. She looked smugly at him.

"If you're going to give a good reply, be sure you make sense first."

John pursed his lips together and raised a finger to point, grasping for a good comeback. "…fine." He said at last. Sadina laughed at him. John smiled.

Let go of life. Just for tonight. Could he do that? He supposed he could.

oOo

A/N: Lookie lookie, an extra long chapter!


	18. SWAT

oOo

"And you're sure?" Rolend asked again.

"Very sure. I didn't recognize him at first, the guards did a good job on his face, but it's him." The woman, Nik, handed him a handful of pictures. Rolend leaned back in his chair and studied them. "I ran a scan for the identification of the other two people there." She told him. "I didn't get anything on the woman but the man is Ike Minum, a medical student at the main hospital."

Rolend stared at the wall for a moment, thinking through the problem. Why was Sheppard sitting pretty on the third level? He was either very cocky or very naive. Rolend had learned to never underestimate his opponent. If the man was as stupid as he seemed, then this would be easy. If the man was cocky, that would mean he was smart and that meant they needed to be prepared.

Finally, he pursed his lips and walked out into the next room to face the group sitting there. "Ok, we are going to take this gently, slowly. He obviously has contacts in the city and the resources to take out a lot of men. He's relaxed where he is right now and we aren't going to do anything to scare him off into the lower levels." Rolend paused and rubbed his forehead. "I want Mandez and Lexxy to watch the student; find out who he's talking to and why, get me a way in. Nik and Rondo are to take the woman; I want a name, location, occupation, everything. Don't get to close. We can _not_ tip off Sheppard." He said firmly. "Let's get him."

oOo

Ike hurried down the stark white hallways, clutching a handful of books in his arms. There wasn't much time; haste was needed. He was almost running by the time he reached an equally stark white door with a black name plate on the front of it, baring the name _Kingston_ in plain nondescript letters. Ike rapped the door with his knuckles then entered when a muffled 'come' snaked out from behind it.

"Dr. Kingston?"

"Ike, how are you?" The older man asked politely.

"Fine, thank you. I received your message, about the chemical?" Ike sat in the chair in front of the doctors' desk.

"Ah, yes. I spoke with Dr. Yung and he is quite please to conduct further testing on his chemical." The man leaned forward and handed Ike a piece of paper with some information scribbled on it. "You need to contact him and set up an appointment to test the chemical on your subject."

Ike smiled. "Thank you Dr. Kingston. Thank you very much."

oOo

"We have something like that; panmachia." Sadina insisted. She sat with her back against the wall and a sheaf of papers propped against her pulled up legs. John lifted his head from where it had been resting comically on the back of the large comfy chair. He had been moved into the living room earlier in the day, after complaining about the seeing the same ol' walls day after day. Ike had only agreed since Sheppard had insisted he had been feeling better…and he said that John's back was healing nicely. Actually, John felt so good that he was getting restless; something always told him that he was getting better again.

"Oh yeah? Bet it isn't as good as football." John decided. Sadina glanced up from her paperwork.

"Well, I guess we'll never know since I don't think I'll be watching football anytime soon."

"Yeah…I guess so. But football is still better."

Sadina gave him a sarcastic disbelieving look then pushed herself up as the doorbell buzzed. She let Ike in, who smiled and greeted them both in turn.

"Ike, say you agree with me." John ordered.

"What?" The blond headed man stared quizzically at him.

"Just say 'I agree'."

"That's not fair!" Sadina protested. "He doesn't even know what we're talking about." John shushed her.

"Ike, say 'I agree'."

"What am I agreeing to?" Ike asked, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Jeppar thinks his world's football is better than our panmachia." Sadina answered.

"I think you've had too much medication Jeppar." Ike decided. "Maybe I'll lower the dosage."

"Ha ha. Don't you dare." John snapped. "Fine, you win. But under protest." Ike smiled at him.

"Cheer up, I have good news." He announced. "Dr. Yung is stopping by to administer that chemical I told you about…the one that will heal the bones quickly."

John perked up instantly. "Oh yeah? When will he be here?"

"Any moment now." Ike said cheerfully.

John smiled; this was indeed good news. The sooner he could walk, the sooner he could find a way off this planet. His plan thus far was to heal and then find his way alone, without the help of Sadina or Ike as he didn't want to get them in trouble or anything.

"So how fast does this drug work?" John asked.

"Well, it's still in development so the results are inconsistent. Some patients experienced immediate results; the bone healing within a few hours. Other patients didn't see results until up to a week after the injection. There have been no cases in which the healing time was the same." The young man had switched to his 'doctor' voice with surprising ease.

"But its safe right?"

"Yes, there have been no adverse reactions so far." Ike said with a smile.

"So far…" John couldn't help but feel nervous…he luck had sucked so far. He didn't have long to dwell as the door buzzed yet again, opening on a stone faced black man. The next hour or so involved a lot of probing and prodding then finally the torturous process of injecting a thick cloudy liquid in-between the brakes in his bones that had him cursing in pain. The whole process left John feeling drained and achy and wanting nothing more than to hide under the covers of his bed and sleep for a week. The doctor explained that the drug might have such physical side effects but John hadn't realized how heavy the side effects would hit.

"Jeppar?" Sadina looked at him with concern in her eyes. John had to blink a few times to get his eyelids to stay open to look back at her.

"…'m tired." He mumbled. She smiled at him.

"Sleep, I'll wake you up later."

John nodded as his eyelids slid shut. Sleep. Sleep was good.

oOo

The doctor was leaving now. He had spent more time there then they had supposed. Hours longer than they'd supposed. Yung had left much earlier but the young doctor had stayed until the sun had set. Was he more connected to these two unknowns then they had originally thought? Obviously, he was. They would know soon enough. Even now, Rolend had two good men waiting at the doctor's house.

Time to move forward.

Nik signaled to the left and watched from the corner of her eye as three dark shapes quickly ran up and around the corner of the dwelling. She focused again through the weapon's scope.


	19. Desperate Messures

oOo

Sadina snuggled up onto the chair and sighed. She closed her eyes and let her muscles relax into the plush surface. Despite the perfect setting, Sadina felt something…something wrong….off. She wrinkled her nose in annoyance then pushed herself up and wandered around the dwelling, putting things away, doing nothing in particular. She ended up in the doorway of Sheppard's room. He wasn't actually asleep but was staring at the ceiling with one arm curled back to support his head.

"How are you feeling?" She asked. He snapped head up, startled. Then he laid it back down on the pillow with a short huff of a sigh. He didn't answer but slowly pushed a foot out from under the blankets and then wiggled his toes at her. Sadina smiled, matching Jeppars own big grin. She trotted into the room and bent down to look at his foot. "They don't hurt anymore?" She asked, gently prodding the area.

"They're still a little tender but its nothing." He insisted. Sheppard shook his head. "I didn't think this was gonna work."

"Truthfully, I didn't either." Sadina admitted. "This city is pretty advanced but this seemed…impossible."

Sheppard nodded.

"Can you walk?" Sadina asked. Jeppar's grin grew as he threw the blankets to one side and swung his feet over the edge.

The lights blinked out. Sadina took a step back in the darkness and tensed up.

"What happened?" Jeppar's voice cut through the black.

"I don't know."

"The power must have gone out. Has that ever happened?" He asked. Sadina shook her head, not realizing it was too dark to see the gesture. "Um…ok do you have something li—"

"Shh." She suddenly hissed. The silence stretched out for several minutes before she said something. "It's too quite."

"What do you mean?"

"I live on level three, someone is always making noise." Trepidation crept up on her. "Something's wrong."

Something gripped her arm and she jumped.

"It's ok…just me." Jeppar said quietly. She released her held breath in a long hiss.

"Don't do that to me…" She snapped.

"Sorry." He mumbled. "Do you have something that regulates the power in your house?"

"House?"

"Uh…dwelling?"

"I…I don't know." She suddenly felt useless.

oOo

The hair on John's neck stood on end as he slowly moved around Sadina and poked his around the door. He kept telling himself that it was nothing; that the power had simply gone out, nothing more. Someone did _not_ cut the power.

That particular line of thinking was quickly abandoned when John saw the flash of a metallic gun barrel moving around the corner in the faint light from the windows. He backed into the room, mind racing, adrenaline pumping. Gently, he pulled Sadina towards him and put a hand over her mouth for a moment to make sure she understood his meaning. Then he pushed her against the wall and dropped down into a crouch and waited by the door's opening. It was a full two minutes before the gun barrel slowly reached into the room.

John didn't hesitate. He lurched forward, grabbing the gun and yanking it forward while sending his fist up the convenient path of the attackers arm to find the face that was hiding there. Sadina's frightened gasp was barely heard over the roar in his ears as he dragged the intruder further into the room. The man seemed limp in his arms as John patted him down for helpful items, such as guns. But what he seemed to be and what he was were two completely different things. The man waited until John had turned his back to him before springing to life, landing a heavy blow to John's lower back. Without thinking, John's elbow shot backwards, connecting with the man's face with a resounding crack. The retaliation involved a punch to John's side.

That's when he snapped. John twisted around and started beating on the man with a fierce energy, releasing all the weeks of pent up anger, confusion, frustration, and fear in one mighty rush. Thinking back on it later, John realized that he would probably have killed the man had the beating not been stopped by a timely kick to the face.

The sudden taste of rubber soles mixed with the coppery twang of blood snapped John into combat mode. He lurched out blindly with his fists, merely seeking to hold the new attacker back for a moment while he recovered from the blow to his head. Then he remembered the knife he'd taken off of the first guy. With a grunt, John twisted his legs up and around the attacker, forcing the new guy to deal with the sudden change in position. At the same time, John groped around for the knife. His fingers closed around the hilt and then…

And then the man stopped struggling and went lax. There was a heavy _thunk_ and something bumped into John's hand. He picked it up. It was the lamp.

"Sadina?" He rasped. He could hear hitched breathing coming from behind the assailant.

"Jeppar?" Sadina sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

"We need to go." He said firmly. "Now." He dropped the knife and grabbed the gun instead then thought better of it and tucked the gun in his waistband and snatched the knife up again. By now, John firmly wished the lights were on. He started moving towards the general direction of the door when Sadina stopped him.

"Listen." She hissed.

John stopped and held his breath. And there it was; the high-pitched, barely audible ramble of radio chatter. He bent down and felt around until he found the radio. The person on the other end was asking something, demanding that someone report. John put his mouth next to the mouth piece and said the first thing that came to mind. "Had a slight weapons malfunction, but everything's perfectly alright now. We're fine; we're all fine… here…now… thank you. How are you?" No reply. John didn't want to stick around and wait for it. "Come on, let's go." He whispered to Sadina. She bumped into him then found his arm and slipped her hand into his.

John crept forward and peered around the door. Not seeing anyone, he quickly ran down the hallway, pulling Sadina along with him. "Is there a back door?" He whispered to her.

"No." She whispered back.

"Crap…" John held the knife ready as he darted into the living room and ducked down behind the chair. He peered around the edge of the chair and strained to decipher the various shadows in the room. Minutes ticked by, but nothing happened. Which, in John's mind, meant that something nasty would be waiting for them outside. "Are there any windows that can be opened in the back of the house?"

"No, none of the windows can be opened."

"Can they be broken?"

"No."

John cursed. One way out… but only one way in. He chewed his bottom lip as his mind raced around the situation. "Where is the nearest transport thingy?" He hissed.

"The what?" She whispered back in a high pitched way. John gritted his teeth.

"The pod…elevator…thing!" John's hands flew up and down as he frantically tried to whisper to her. "The thing that takes people to the different levels."

"The Aufzug. Umm…nearest one is…two streets over."

"Ok…ok, we have to try for it." John stared at the door. Still, no one was coming in. Could it be that there were only the two assailants? If that were true, who was on the radio?

How the heck were they going to get out of this alive?

"Sadina, follow me."

oOo

Darkness had settled like a thick blanket over the city. Nik adjusted the scope and flipped on the night vision. Her anger was simmering but she kept it in check. The anger was directed at herself for underestimating the man, for only sending in two people. This man was good if he could take out two highly trained men. She wanted him now more than ever. But even as much as she wanted him, she wasn't going to rush in.

Their orders were to bring Sheppard in alive at all costs. But that didn't mean they couldn't maim. Nik was quite sure, he wouldn't get away. There was only one entrance to the dwelling; she had her weapon pointed at it.

The door slid open.

Nik's muscles tensed up. "Door is open, head's up." She muttered quietly into the radio to the other member of the team. At first, nothing came out of the door then a dark form slowly stepped out. It took Nik a few seconds to recognize the figure as Rondo, one of the team. But behind him stood the hunched figure of Sheppard, who happened to have one arm wrapped around Rondo and a weapon pressed into the base of his neck.

Her anger turned from simmering to boiling.

"You have the right angle Lexxy?" She asked the other woman who had set up her rifle on the rooftop of another building.

"_Negative."_

Sheppard and Rondo had inched their way forward. Mandez suddenly appeared in the doorway with a small, feminine hand wrapped around his neck. Nik was taken aback; she had forgotten about the woman. "Try and move to your left and see if you can target a non-fatal area." Nik focused again on Sheppard. He suddenly angled right and backed up a few steps. Odd.

"_I have a shot, I'm taking it."_

Nik focused the scope a little bit and her eyes went wide. He was wearing an earpiece. "Stop—"

_POW_

The world seemed to crawl by as Nik watched Sheppard whip his body around and push Rondo in the direction of Lexxy's gun. A spray of red blossomed up and Rondo crumpled to the ground. Sheppard was shouting something to the woman and she shoved Mandez to one side then both of them took off running. Lexxy was wailing into the radio. Nik was just barely able to catch up with what was happening and she swung the rifle around; not thinking, she fired randomly at the fleeing pair. But it was too late; they were already around the corner and, no doubt, at the Aufzug by now.

Nik cursed.

Sheppard was gone.


	20. Home Sweet Home?

oOo

John was shocked for a second when the shot he'd been expecting actually did hit the man in his arms. But only for a second.

"Sadina, let him go and run!" He shouted. He turned and saw the shocked expression on her face and instantly knew that nothing he said had gotten through to her. John let go of his hostage and darted back to Sadina, grabbing her wrist and yanking her into a sprint. "Go go go!" He yelled, and then waited for the white hot burn of a bullet as he ran for the street corner. But it never came. 

He continued his dash, with Sadina puffing along side of him and it wasn't long before they reached the transport. John skidded to a stop in front of the pod and frantically hammered the button for the doors. When it opened, he practically fell in side, pulling Sadina off balance and sending her crashing into him which caused both of them to fall in a tangled heap of limbs onto the pod floor.

"Please state your destination." The pod politely chirped.

"Level twenty." John muttered. Sadina gasped.

"Negate that. Level thirteen." She said quickly.

"Thank you." The pod said cheerfully. The contraption descended. The two people slowly untangled themselves and sat panting in the small space.

"Are you ok?" John finally asked. Sadina looked close to tears as she sat with her head leaned back against the wall of the pod. She dumbly shook her head. John felt like a jerk. "I'm sorry…that this happened." He said meekly. She held up a hand.

"Stop. Just…stop." She snapped, her eyes flashing in anger. "Let me think this through." 

John nodded. They sat in silence for the rest of the short ride.

The door slid open on a dark, dank alleyway. Sadina pushed herself up and glanced outside of the pod then quickly stepped out. John hurried to keep up. "So, what's on level thirteen?" John asked as they walked.

"Predak." She said simply.

They walked fast and John understood why; the streets were ill lit, vile looking people loitered on the streets, vague screams and strange noises could be heard in the distance. They didn't go far and Sadina seemed to know exactly where she was going as she turned toward an old looking building. A neon sign blinked and hummed over a tremendously low dark doorway. Sadina ducked down and slipped through the doorway. John hesitated but followed.

They walked down an uneven hallway that had stained orange walls and a leak in the ceiling. The hallway ended in a heavy looking black door. Sadina knocked out a deliberate rhythm and seconds later, the door swung out. Sadina walked through but John hesitated. He suddenly wasn't sure if it was such a good idea to follow this woman, whom he hardly knew, into a strange building especially since she wasn't telling him what was going on. But then he didn't know anything about this city and the of the two decent people he knew only one of them was in the immediate vicinity. John didn't even know where to begin to look for Ike, let alone the fact that he was a hunted man and probably couldn't show his face in the upper levels anytime soon. John hated the fact that he really didn't have any other decent option at the moment, other than to follow Sadina into the unknown. He stepped through the door. 

And immediately he was shoved against the wall with a blade to his throat. John froze and stared into the hard gaze of a big burly man.

Sadina's voice cut through the air like a razor blade. "Ne nanositi povredu njemu, on je zasluženo."

The man glanced over at her then slowly lowered his blade and stepped back a few feet. John took a deep breath then gave the man a tight smile. "Thanks." He muttered sarcastically. The man pointedly ignored him and took a step toward Sadina.

"Što su te događaj ovdje?" He asked.

"Trebam to govoriti sa Predak." Sadina said quietly. 

"Što dogoditi se?"

"Htijenje zabavljati se čim čeznuti to objasniti." Sadina seemed agitated. The man took a step closer.

"Jesu te U redu Addie?" He asked tenderly. Sadina just shook her head, tears springing into her eyes.

"On je iza soba." He said. Sadina nodded then she finally turned to John.

"Follow me." She ordered. 

"Ok. What was that all about?" He asked, jerking a thumb back in the direction of ape-man. 

"_That_ was my brother." She explained. 

"Your brother?" John's eyebrows shot up. "Nice guy." He mumbled. Sadina led John through a maze of corridors until she stopped by an open doorway. 

"Stay here." She ordered. John's head bobbed up and down and she disappeared through the door. John heard a hurried, muffled conversation and he tried to make out the words but nothing sounded even remotely like English. Whatever was being said, it was certainly a heated conversation. Eventually though, John gave up trying to figure out what was going on. Instead, his mind wandered over what exactly was happening. Assessing his situation, John figured out three things: one, he didn't have a clue anymore as to where he was; two, he was currently relying on a woman who didn't want to speak to him, much less help him out anymore; three, he was even more screwed than before. Those three facts established, John decided on one conclusion: go with the flow. This was the only option that sounded appealing. More than that, it _felt_ right. He would go with the flow and adjust accordingly to whatever happened next.

"Sheppard!" A deep, harsh male voice suddenly burst out of the other room. John hesitated, not quite sure he heard right. Then he slowly, stiffly, entered the room. He instantly noticed how lavish it looked. Lavish and clean and nothing like the other halls and rooms he'd been in earlier. Sadina sat on a cushy chair in the corner, her head down with tear stains on her cheeks. A big boned, gray haired man sat behind a heavy ornate desk. The man was glaring at him. John swallowed.

"Um… Hi." He said awkwardly.

"Why were those men after you?" The man asked. He wasn't fooling around.

"Well…I uh…" John searched for the right words. He couldn't very well lie to the man and he didn't think the man would take just any old answer. And, more than anything, he owed it to Sadina. "I escaped from the prison." John said.

"And why were you at the prison?" The man asked.

"I…I killed someone." Guilt settled heavily on him again. The man looked at Sadina. 

"Te preterit od be ne to miješati kriminalistički." He said firmly.

"JA je ne znati on je zločinac..." Sadina muttered. The man sighed then turned back to John.

"Who?" And there it was; the question John had been hoping to avoid.

He bit his lip. "Marklov." John looked down at the floor, not wanting to see the look on either person's face.

"Why did you kill him?" 

"Blackmail. It was either him or my team." The words felt like ash in John's mouth.

"Wise." The man said. John's eyes snapped up to glare at him.

"No it wasn't." He snapped. "I had a choice and I killed an innocent man, that isn't wise."

"Then why did you kill him?" The man challenged. John blinked.

"I don't know." He said meekly. "It was like…like it wasn't me shooting him." John felt utterly helpless, all over again. The man smiled in a mocking way.

"And it seemed as though you were watching the scene from a distance?" He asked. John's forehead furrowed. 

"Yeah." 

The man still smiled. "You were under the influence of a drug, my friend. One that I have used often. You couldn't have stopped yourself even if you wanted to."

"A drug?" John felt dizzy. A great weight lifted off his shoulders so quickly, it made his legs weak. The implications of what the man was saying...what it meant…

"It inhibits thought, among other things." The man said causally. 

"Who the heck drugged me?" John muttered angrily.

"I imagine it was the one who supposedly blackmailed you."

"Admare." John was ticked now, thoroughly and completely ticked off.

"The Sovereign?" The man nodded. "I suppose that makes sense." 

Anger swept in out of no where to swamp John's mind. He suddenly wanted nothing more than to see Admare squirming in front of him for what he did. John had to squat down, for fear he would collapse from the emotional rollercoaster _and_ the sudden lack of adrenaline. "I gotta get off of this planet…" John muttered to himself. He rubbed his face with a weary hand.

"That's impossible my friend." The man said. John just shook his head, not wanting to listen anymore. The man continued anyway. "You're a criminal now; there is no way to get you out of this city."

"I'll stowaway on a ship or something." John said angrily.

"They do scans of anyone coming or going. You'll raise red flags as soon as you step out onto the loading bays."

"I'll find someone to smuggle me in." 

"You ain't got the funds to pull that off."

John gritted his teeth together. "Then I'll find a way to get to the gate."

"Last man who did that stole a wraith dart and was smuggling people through the gate by sweeping them up in the culling beam. He was shot down and thirty people died along with him. _No one_ gets close to that gate until after they've been scanned, cleared then scanned again. You're stuck here friend."

"Why are you telling me this?" John snapped. His body started to shake from the resentment that was slowly building.

"I thought you'd like to know that you weren't a killer." The man said simply. John bit his lower lip and glared.

"Not that." He growled.

The man leaned forward and fixed John with a knowing stare. "Because I wanted to try and repay the man who saved my daughters life by making sure he wasn't getting into something that will get him killed."

John blinked. "Your daughter…" He glanced over at Sadina. She smiled meekly. The man walked out from around his desk and grasped John's shoulders, pulling him to his feet.

"My name is Otus Savin. You may call me Otunsan." The older man said kindly. "Te preterit od be pravo o ovaj čovjek." He said to Sadina.

"JA je znao on je ne loš čovjek." Sadina said back. 

"I know you probably want to get back to where ever you come from," Otunsan started. "But you are stranded here. The least I can do is give you shelter and a job so that you can start a new life here, in the lower levels. I assure you; you can become quite comfortable here."

John stared at them. His shoulders slumped forward, his legs weak and ready to give out, the picture of misery. He felt like he'd hit rock bottom. Granted, he wasn't technically responsible for Marklov's death but then again…he'd still been the one to pull the trigger. So now he was just stuck in a god forsaken city with a burning anger growing deep in his belly combined with the sickening guilt that he killed a man and couldn't have done anything else. And now, he was expected to take root here…and forget his old life.

John shook his head. "I can't do this." He muttered. He simply turned and left, wandering down the halls, ignoring Sadina's calls. John walked quickly, turning every which way when the halls permitted it. He didn't care where he was going, he simply walked. And walked. And eventually found his way into a large dark room. The darkness intrigued him…beckoned to him. 

John stood in the darkness. And suddenly clenched his fists. "What did I do God?" He growled into the unknown. "Huh? Why are you doing this to me?!" John's anger burned anew. "How 'bout some help here?"

"Jeppar?" Sadina's quite voice peeped into the dark. "Who are you talking to?"

John scowled in the blackness. "No one." He snapped with more venom then he'd intended. John paced in the dark and found himself walking up a slight incline. He suddenly wished the lights were on. Scarce seconds later, light flickered for a moment then suddenly flooded out into the dark room from behind him. John slowly turned. And his heart did a flip-flop.

The light flooded out of a puddle jumper.

oOo


	21. The Thickening Plot

A/N: There has been a bit of a mix up with chapter twenty (apparently it decided to disappear after i had posted it!!) I'm pretty sure it's fixed now for those who haven't been able to read it

* * *

oOo

Ronon stepped out onto the ships ramp and took a deep breath of fresh air. Being stuck on the ship for so long was tiring. The trip wasn't all bad though. Ronon made friends with one of the ships crewmembers, who happened to have a certain attraction to weapons…and killing…and violence in general. Ronon and Cobb struck up a great friendship and the two men ended up exchanging half a dozen weapons. But despite the pleasantness of the trip, Ronon left the ship with a sharper focus than ever before.

The funny looking ship had landed just outside of a small town on the dreaded planet. Ronon followed the trader clan into the town, where they proceeded to set up their stands and tents. Ronon stashed his stuff with in the old woman's tent then went off in search of someone who knew how to get into the city. He ended up in yet another bar; talking to a man who was rumored to have the information he wanted. 

"So how do you get in?" Ronon demanded…again. The man just downed his mug of ale. Ronon was getting impatient. He pulled out a knife and implanted the tip of it into the space between the man's hands. "How do I get in?" He said slowly. The man stared at the blade.

"There ain't no way to get in from the ground." The man said. Ronon growled. This was an immense waste of time. He started to stand. "There is something else that you might be interested in." The man said quickly.

"What?" Ronon snapped.

"The ancestor's outpost." A thin smile split the man's face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "I happen to have a map to it."

"What do you want for it?" Ronon demanded. 

"I want a ride off this rock." The man said. Ronon nodded.

"When I finish my business here, I'll take you wherever you want." 

"And how do I know you'll keep your word?" The man asked. Ronon plucked the knife up from where he'd stuck it into the wood.

"I could just kill you now and save myself the trouble of coming back to pick you up." Ronon said conversationally, testing the edge of the blade with his thumb. The man stopped smiling. Ronon stopped being nice. He glared at the man. "If I'm not dead or anything, I'll come back and take you off of this planet."

The man glared back at him. "I'll make a copy of it." He promised. Ronon pulled a small sheaf of notebook paper out of his pocket, held together by the clip on a pen.

"Make a copy." He ordered. The man stared at the paper. Then he stared back at Ronon.

"You will come back?" He asked one last time.

"I will come back. Make the copy." Ronon growled. The man said nothing, just opened up his folded map and grabbed the blank paper. Ronon leaned back and watched the process, making sure that everything was copied right.

The outpost wasn't exactly what he was looking for but Ronon learned long ago that if opportunity came knocking at your door, it was best to let it in. Ronon was willing to bet that something important would be found.

All he had to do was find it.

oOo

Admare stared hard at the young man before him. "Where will they run to?" He demanded again.

"I don't know!" The young man yelled…again. "I barely know them!" Of course the man didn't know Sheppard. The woman didn't either. Admare knew this but he couldn't let it become common knowledge. Which meant he had to put on a bit of a show for those watching; namely Rolend. 

"Chief of Security, I want this man to suffer the same fate as Sheppard." Admare roared across the room. "Seven days in the prison then banishment to the lowest of levels." He was really seething now, something he'd been practicing at home. The young man was shaking, his eyes as wide as they could possibly be. But the chief of security hadn't moved yet. Admare turned slowly, his face red. "Rolend! Take this man away now!" The other man glared at him then slowly moved to usher the young doctor away. But Admare was not finished. "And Rolend? Find Sheppard. Do what ever it takes." Rolend's easy gait faltered for a few steps and a hand flitted up in acknowledgement. 

Admare decided that he really had to do something about the respect issue that the chief of security had. Yes, he would deal with that later…_after_ Sheppard had been found. 

And killed.

oOo

Sadina hurried along with a loaded tray balanced in her hands. She ducked into the room they'd dubbed 'Sheppard's Den', as the man had only left the room twice in the two day's they'd been here. The discovery was exciting. Her father had acquired the strange bit of technology by winning a bet but he'd never been able to figure the thing out. Then Sheppard merely waltzed in and turned the thing on…with _thought!_ He explained that it was something in his blood that the ship responded to. It was truly amazing.

The room was empty. Sadina froze in the doorway, trying desperately to figure out how the room could be empty. Jeppar had already figured out that there was the problem of getting the ship out of the building and had decided that they would have to cut through the walls to get it out. But there were no holes in any of the walls.

"Sadina?" Jeppar's head suddenly appeared out of no where. She stared at him.

"Jeppar?"

The disembodied head glanced around in confusion. "What's wrong?" He asked.

She dumbly gestured to her own head. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a moment then he smiled. "Oh, sorry. Hang on." And just like that, in a shimmering wave, the jumper reappeared, with Jeppar's head sticking out of the back of it.

"That is incredibly unsettling." She muttered as she tentatively walked over to him and offered him the tray of food. He smiled smugly at her.

"Yeah but it's pretty cool, doncha think?" He said as he grabbed the tray and walked inside the jumper. Sadina followed him.

"I guess it'd be cool for a gun crazy male." She mumbled begrudgingly. 

"Admit it, you think it's awesome." He prodded, taking a bite from a piece of flat bread.

"Fine. Yes, I think it's awesome." She finally admitted. He gave her a smug look then focused on his meal. Sadina watched him for a moment. Something was off. "What's wrong?" She asked. Sheppard searched her eyes for a moment and she could tell he was evaluating her determination to pry.

Finally, he swallowed the food in his mouth and glanced downward. "It won't fly." He said firmly, as if trying not to be depressed by this bit of news. 

"What do you mean? I thought the power supply was intact."

"The drive pods are shot." Sheppard admitted. "I wouldnve, world's" /'t even know where to start in fixing them." He took another bite of food.

"What are you going to do?" Sadina asked.

"You asked you dad about the guy who lost this to him right?" She nodded and Sheppard continued. "I'm gonna ask _that_ guy where he got it and hopefully we can get there. Where there's one jumper, there are bound to be more." He shrugged. "I don't know if it'll work, but it's worth a shot…'bout the only thing that is."

Sadina sat down in co-pilot's chair and studied the man before her. There was something different about him. He seemed to ooze confidence despite the fact that his ship was broken. And the confidence seemed to fit… as if this was the true Sheppard whom Sadina was just now getting to see. 

Jeppar leaned back in the pilot's seat and propped his feet up on the consol. There was an ease and familiarity with his movements as if resting his boots on the dashboard was the most natural thing in the world for him to do.

"Sheppard." Otunsan's voice reached into the ship. Jeppar leapt to his feet and hurried out. Sadina watched him leave, having to smile at the bounce in his step. After a few moments, she followed him out and saw that he was talking with her father.

"What's going on?" She asked. 

"There's an ancient outpost." Jeppar said, grinning.

"A what kind of outpost?" She looked confused.

"Ancient…they're…never mind. The point is, the guy who had this last got it from an ancient outpost somewhere outside of the city." Jeppar was beaming. Sadina glanced over at her father and saw a smile that was slowly fading. Something was off.

"What's wrong?" She asked her father. Jeppar's eyes flicked back and forth between Sadina and her father. The smile started to disappear from his face and was replaced by disappointment.

"What is it?" Jeppar demanded.

"There is no way for you to get out of the city, as I have said before." Otunsan said quietly. Sheppard stared at the floor for a few seconds. His foot tapped on the ground and his face screwed up. He was thinking about something. His head jerked from side to side.

"No. No, I won't stay here." He said firmly.

"Jeppar—"

"No! This city was built up in layers right? The original layer, the ground level, would have had a gate in it or something to get to the rest of the planet. Right?"

"I would assume." Otunsan said stiffly.

"So would I. All I have to do is get to the ground level and…somehow find a way outside of the city. Can't be that hard right? I mean, it'll probably take a while but at least there won't be anyone trying kill me down there...right?" 

Silence.

"At least there wouldnve, world's" /'t be any guns…right?" Sheppard looked frantic now as he searched their faces. Sadina just stared at him. The man was an utter lunatic.

"Sheppard, I won't even pretend to be able to tell you what to do but know that to enter the lowest levels is suicide." Otunsan's voice was deep and foreboding. Sheppard grinned manically. 

"Yeah well, I've done worse." He insisted. The grin faded. "I can't stay here." He said quietly. To Sadina: "Thank you, for putting up with me and…and for taking care of me." To Otunsan: "I know I've probably taxed your hospitality too far but…if you could give me some food for the road…maybe a weapon if it wouldnve, world's" /'t be too much trouble…and if you could point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful. I can't give you much in return. But I would, if I could." Sheppard looked sheepish again.

Sadina's father waited several long moments while he processed what had been said. Finally, he looked intently at Sheppard. "I'll give you what you need." He said firmly. "I do wish you would reconsider though. I could make you a very happy man as my daughter's husband."

Sadina felt her cheeks flush as her eyes grew round. Sheppard was grinning in an embarrassed sort of way. She wanted to smack that grin off his face.

"No…no thank you, sir." Sheppard cleared his throat.

"Very well. I will have what you need prepared and sent to the entrance. Good luck, my friend." With that, Otunsan turned sharply on his heels and left. Sadina gave Sheppard one last sorrowful look, then she too vanished through the doorway.

* * *

A/N: Oh, psych! And you thought I was gonna let him off easy with that jumper…silly readers…I ain't done wit 'im yet… 


	22. Beam Me Down!

John checked his pack one last time. Not out of necessity really, more out of nervous energy rather then anything else. He was ready to leave; Otunsan had given him instructions on how to get down to ground level and told him where direction to go in order to reach the edge of the city fast, comparatively speaking. Someone that John didn't know gave him a heavy pack that had food, water, and a few other survival things in it. Then the person gave him a gun and told him that he was free to go. John found the life signs detector that was hidden away in the Puddle Jumper and tucked it into his pack.

There was nothing else to wait for but still John waited for a few minutes. Then he decided that he might as well leave. There was no sun to wait for…no person to really say goodbye too. Except maybe Sadina. Perhaps that was the reason he was waiting around. But he had already waited for over an hour and she still hadn't come to say goodbye. He couldn't very well wait forever.

John sighed heavily then shouldered his pack. He quickly made his way out of the maze of the Savin household and into the dark street. Following the directions that were given to him, John turned left, walked a ways then turned right down a wide street. The familiar row of transport pods waited for him. John approached them with nervous excitement rumbling in his gut. He felt like himself again, like he'd just woken up from a long nightmare. It was refreshing. It gave him a new determination. It made him all the more homesick.

A dark figure shadowed John as he walked towards the pods. This did not go unnoticed and John tensed, curling his fingers around the gun handle. But then the figure staggered into the light and proved to be a drunken old man. The old geezer stumbled into one of the pods, ignoring John completely.

"Come on John…pull it together." He berated himself. He entered his pod, set his pack on the floor.

"Please state your destination." Came the annoyingly polite voice. John hesitated for a moment. He realized that no one had been able to give him a straight answer as to how many levels actually made up the city. He decided to take a stab in the dark.

"Level sixty." He said. There was an impolite beep and then the voice spoke again.

"Please state your destination." The voice asked again.

"Level 50."

_BEEP_.

"Please state your destination."

"Ground level."

_BEEP_.

"Please state your destination."

"Beam me down freakin…Scotty."

_BEEP_.

"Please state your destination."

"Level 40."

"Thank you." The pod chirped.

The door slid shut and the pod dropped smoothly down. John twiddled his thumbs in silence for several minutes as the giant metal pill glided on in the darkness. Five minutes in, the pod shuddered for a few moments then continued on. Scarce seconds had gone by before the pod started to shudder again. The shaking lasted longer than before and John started to think that this might be a very short trip indeed. But then the shaking stopped, the pod slowed to a stand still and the doors slid open.

The first thing he noticed was the strong waft of musty air. The next thing he noticed was the distinct lack of light. This level made level thirteen seem sunny and bright. Inky blankness crept into the pod.

"This is a bad idea…bad bad idea." John muttered to the darkness. He rummaged around in his pack and produced a small handheld light. A bluish glow spread out amazingly far. What the light illuminated were fuzzy, vaguely building shaped blobs that loomed up out of the dark. John took one step out. He took another step. Five steps.

It was quiet. Very quiet. And very dark.

One of the pods whooshed upwards, making John jump. "Get a grip…" He mumbled. He wished that he had the comforting bulk of Ronon behind him. Or the calm presence of Teyla. Heck, John would even take the nervous ramblings of Rodney at this point; as the man berated him on how stupid this plan was, how dumb he was to travel down here alone, how there were probably mutated monsters hiding in the shadows…

He was several yards away from the pods now and gaining confidence with each step, or so he told himself. The ground was covered in what appeared to be soft fine dirt. John imagined it was layers upon layers of ancient dust that had built up over the years. The air was stale down here. And still. Each breath sounded abnormally loud as the air seemed to squeeze itself into the space around him.

The scene reminded him of the book _I Am Legend_. John half expected to be taken out by group of zombies at any moment now. This did absolutely nothing to help his nerves. One of the pods whooshed again, making John jump…again. His lips scrunched up as he mentally scolded himself for being so tense. John started forward again, faster this time as if going faster would make him less nervous… which didn't work.

It just _had_ be that moment when a something draped across his shoulder.

John leapt to the side, jerking his gun up and sweeping the light around.

"What the— Sadina?!"

The woman walked a few feet from him, a smirk tugging at her lips.

"Lighten up Jeppar." She said offhandedly. John stared at her.

"What the crap! Don't…_do_ that do me!" He shrieked in a hysterical whisper.

"Why are you whispering?"

"I…don't…know." He started to walk off in a huff, that just so happened to be in the general direction she was going. "What are you doing here? You followed me, didn't you?"

"Very smart of you. Yes, I followed you." She pulled out a light of her own and clipped it to her belt.

"Why?" He demanded.

"Because you are going to need some help."

"And you think you can help me?" He asked incredulous. "I thought no one comes this far down."

"Yeah, well… I have three brothers; we did a lot of exploring as children."

"You could've just drawn me up a map or something; you didn't have to come down here."

"You should never come down to the lower levels alone." She said, looking at him intently for a moment before continuing on. "I've only been down to the very beginning of the underworld."

"The underworld?" John's eyebrows shot up.

"That's what me and my brother's called it. The space we're in now is just dead space, nothing lives here anymore. The underworld starts just after the airless level…which is a terrible name but we _were_ kids when we named it. I doubt that my father gave you a respirator; my brothers are the only other ones who know about it. It's been awhile since I've been down here, but I think I can get us down there."

John watched her for a moment. "So you being down here has nothing to do with the whole…um…husband thing, does it?"

Sadina's eyes flashed in the beam of light. Silently, she walked up to him, snatched his light and turned it off, then turned off her own. John frowned in the darkness.

"You can't find your way in the dark forever you know!" He shouted. "Sadina?"

No answer.

"You'll probably bump into something and break that big ol' nose of yours." He taunted. "Or fall in a hole. Or trip over…something."

Still no answer. Or light. John switched tactics.

"_I_ could fall in a freakin' hole or trip over something. And then you'll have to carry me."

Then he heard Sadina's voice.

"Or I could just leave you to rot in the dark." She shouted to him.

"Fine, I won't say anything else about husbands. It's not like I wanted to marry you anyway!"

Finally, blue light came to life several yards in front of him. A smug look was plastered on Sadina's face.

"Move faster, you old man." She snapped.

"I'm comin, I'm comin." They walked side by side for several minutes before John said anything. "Thanks. For coming after me." He said quietly.

"You're welcome. Now move faster, it's a long trip." She ordered.

John snorted a laugh. "Yes ma'am."

oOo


	23. In Other News

oOo

Ronon stared hard at the building before him. It stood at the far end of a rather large field of massive rubbery pods; the dark green husks shining in the sun. A few smaller buildings on stilts were placed around the field. The buildings were most certainly of ancestral design.

Ronon perched on a rock and simply surveyed the area. A bird chirped. The wind blew in a hollow whistle through the crops. Something else hung in the air. It was quiet at first; just barely heard over the natural ambiance. But Ronon recognized it. He jumped down next to his rock and stayed low and still. The noise grew gently into a hum and then a high pitched whine. Scarce seconds after that, the all too familiar shape of a wraith dart came shooting into view. The slender ship did a sweep over the field once, then twice, and then swung around for another pass. For one terrorizing moment, Ronon feared that the dart was searching for _him._ But this was improbable and the moment had passed. The dart dived in low and the culling beam shot out. What the beam was aiming for, Ronon could see from his position. But now the ship was already fading into the distance.

Something weird was going on here.

Ronon held his gun close as he crept forward in an army crawl towards the general direction of one of the outlying buildings. He reached the building and was scaling one of its four pillars within minutes. A blast to the window gave him an opening. Once inside, he discovered a man shaking and hiding in the corner, babbling something about not being killed. Ronon ignored him for a few moments to take in the room that he had blasted his way in to.

It was a typical ancient room and reminded Ronon of a small version of the control room in Atlantis. But something was certainly _not_ typical about the field of pods. He turned towards the man who was cowering in the corner.

"What is this place?" He demanded. The man stared at him, wide eyed. Ronon bent down onto one knee and brandished his gun threateningly. "What is this place?" He growled.

"I-I don't know! I just run manage this tower!" The man shrieked.

"Why does it need managing?"

"I'm only here to make sure this part of the shield runs correctly… I don't know anything else!" The man was shaking like a leaf.

"Is that the first time the Wraith have been here?" Ronon demanded. Here the man looked strangely at him.

"No… They come often."

"Why?"

"…to collect the crops."

"People." Ronon growled more to himself than to the man.

"No. The crops." The man looked at him as if he were growing a third eye. "The Wraith do not cause us trouble."

Ronon stared hard at him. Everything that came out of the man's mouth was wrong. The Wraith don't _not_ cause trouble. And yet there was no lie in the man's eyes; he truly believed what he was telling Ronon. All of this meant that Ronon needed to bring his team here. Something was up and that something was most likely important. The only dilemma now was whether or not this something could wait until Ronon was done killing Sheppard's killer. The only problem with waiting was that there was a good chance that Ronon wouldn't make it back out of the city again.

Ronon cursed to himself. Why did he have to go and get himself some responsibility to a group of people? He kept having to remind himself that he wasn't a runner anymore. And, what's more, Sheppard wouldn't have wanted Ronon to pass up this opportunity to get some potentially vital information on the Wraith.

He only hoped the ship he'd come in on hadn't left yet.

Ronon clubbed the man over the head, expertly rendering him unconscious, and then expertly tied the man up and left him in the corner. After that, he climbed out, sliced off a small bit of the strange pods, and set off at a good pace…_back_ towards the way he'd already come.

Sheppard's killer would have to wait.

oOo

Rolend kicked at the wall.

This was pointless, and he knew it. A man with as much skill as Sheppard had would know where to hide and how to hide in the lower levels. There was virtually _nothing_ that Rolend could do to find the man. What was worse was that Admare knew it. The chief of security suspected that the only reason that the sovereign was ordering them to continue the search was to punish him.

Rolend stared at the floor for a moment; his hands braced high up on the office wall while his head hung low in between his arms. He was in-between a rock and a hard place. Maybe it was time to consider quitting.

"Sir?" By the sound of her voice, Nik was in the doorway. "We got the report back from the doctor, Rondo is gonna pull through." She said with obvious relief in her voice. Rolend straightened and turned towards her.

"Good…that's good." He paused for several moments. "How is Lexxy doing?"

"She'll be ok."

"Have we gotten anything thing on the woman yet?" Rolend made an attempt to get back into a professional mode. Nik seemed to snap out of whatever thought process that was going on in her mind.

"We got the last name Savin from the young doctor. Trader name is Sadina. We ran the names through the system and got a hit on Savin." She rattled off smartly. "Otus Savin, small time crime lord in the lower levels. Not important enough for anyone to touch him until now. The family name hasn't spread that far so it's a good guess that this is the same family." She handed Rolend a paper with the information on it. "A team is being assembled right now."

"He's not there." Rolend said sharply. "But it's a start. How many are on the team?"

"Six."

"Double it. We know where he is?"

"Yes, level thirteen in an old office complex."

"Let's go." Rolend grabbed his jacket off of the chair and strode towards the door.

"Sir? You're coming with us?"

"Absolutely."

oOo

"Ok, Mr.Savin, I need you to tell me where your daughter is." Rolend stared hard at the sliver headed man before him. Precious time had already been wasted in wearing the man down and only now did the man seem annoyed.

"I do not know where she is."

"What about Sheppard?"

No answer.

"Look, I have enough on the Savin name to make sure your family doesn't see anything but the walls of the prison for a very long time." This general idea had been repeated several times already but it seemed to be getting through to the thick headed man.

"Sheppard was not responsible for Marklov's death." Savin stared at Rolend intently. "He was drugged. By Admare."

The words were like a kick to the gut. But, then again, Rolend wasn't surprised in the least. _If_ it were true.

"Of course he would tell you this." Rolend assumed.

"Sheppard was not aware that he was under the influence. I was the one who discerned what had happened." Savin leaned back in his chair. "The man was framed."

The more he thought of it, the more Rolend was thinking that this was true. Admare had always been a rat of a man; assassination was _not_ beneath him. Rolend found himself _wanting _this to be true. Savin was smirking.

"You believe me." The man stated. "And you rather dislike our beloved sovereign." Rolend pointedly ignored the commentary.

"You know what's on the line for you, no more fooling around."

"Were you being foolish before?"

"Tell me where he has gone!" Rolend demanded. Savin was silent for a moment before answering.

"I imagine that my daughter has run off with Sheppard; I want assurances that she will neither be harmed nor arrested." The gray headed man said. Rolend leaned forward and let all his hatred for Admare bubble up to the surface.

"I give you my word; the sovereign will not hear anything pertaining to your name. As far as he is concerned, an unknown party has helped Sheppard escape."

Savin studied Rolend for a moment. Then he nodded. "Sheppard is desperate to leave the city. He has gotten it into his head that he can find a way out on the ground level."

"That's suicide." Rolend barked in disbelief.

"Sheppard is both a stranger to our world and a very desperate man. Those things combine in improbable ways."

"Why doesn't he fight Admare, clear his name?" Rolend mused.

"In our city? That _is_ suicide." Savin leaned forward. "Sheppard is a smart man. He won't show his face any time soon. _And _he is innocent. Perhaps it would behoove you to shoot at the man only to loose his corpse to the unknown depths."

Rolend stared at the floor. He wasn't entirely convinced of Sheppard's innocence.

"Your daughter will remain safe and free of blame. Thank you for your cooperation." He said dully.

A few more bits of specific information were exchanged and soon, they had a starting place to search. Sheppard had little over a day's head start. By the time all the proper equipment had been gather, that day would stretch into two. But Rolend was confident in his team. They'd been trained for stuff like this.

Then again, he'd been confident once before and it had nearly cost him the life of a team member.

Yes, perhaps it was time to retire…

oOo


	24. Here Come the Clowns

oOo

oOo

"Clowns. I hate clowns."

"What's so bad about clowns?"

"They're just…I don't know! I just don't like clowns…they're creepy."

"But _why_ are they creepy?"

"Because they wear wigs and lots of face paint and _try_ to be entertaining."

"…and this is creepy?"

"Yes, this is creepy because they _aren't _entertaining…just creepy."

"Right…ok."

John kept his jaws shut as they continued in the dark. But he couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. Being with Sadina felt so normal…it was refreshing.

"I think we should stop for a few minutes, we've been walking a while." John suggested. Sadina made a funny noise of agreement.

"We've been walking for a good part of the day." She suddenly sounded exhausted.

"You could have said your were tired sooner. I would've stopped."

"I _did_ say something sooner. You weren't paying attention."

"Oh…sorry." John offered meekly. He set his heavy pack on the ground and sat down next to it. He pulled off his light and adjusted it so that the beam was broader before setting it on the ground. Sadina mirrored his actions.

"It's ok. You get distracted easily." She said dismissively. Sadina pulled her pack open and rummaged around until she found a fist sized wrapped parcel. She tossed the parcel to John. "Hungry?"

John caught it in one hand and tugged it open. "What is it?"

"It's good, that's what it is." She insisted. John sniffed it then pulled off a piece of the tough brownish stuff and put it in his mouth. It tasted like super concentrated honey nut cheerios. All in all, not to shabby.

"I really have to get you some pizza sometime." He insisted around the chewy stuff that he was working around his jaws.

"Yeah, you really do." She quipped. There were a few minutes of silence before Sadina spoke again. "How's your back?" She asked.

John blinked a few times. He honestly hadn't really thought about it much…didn't really have _time_ to think about it…didn't really _want_ to think about it. "Still sore. It'll probably be sore for a while." He said off-handedly. Sadina gave him a incredulous look.

"When's the last time you cleaned it?" She asked.

"When's the last time we were at your house?" John smiled haplessly.

"I brought some medicine; let me take a look at it." She said. John was tempted to tell her no but then figured that infection would slap him upside the head when he least expected it if he didn't take care of things. He turned his back towards her and pulled his shirt over his head. He could hear her shuffle forward then felt her cold hands on his flesh. The chill made him flinch. Then Sadina was rubbing a gel across his back that stung at first but slowly faded away. What didn't fade was the pain from her hands on his tender skin. The pain wasn't enough so as to make him say something but it brought up unpleasant memories.

"How's it looking back there?" John asked over his shoulder.

"A lot of bruises and scabs, that's about it. You're healing." She said cheerfully. John just grunted. The shirt was replaced and more food was eaten, all in silence. Finally, Sadina yawned.

"I'm gonna get some sleep. You should to." She said.

"One of us should keep watch."

"No reason to, there really is nothing alive down here." She assured him. John hesitated for a moment but then something in her eyes reassured him.

"Ok…sleep sounds really good." He finally said. The two of them lay side by side for warmth then turned off the lights to preserve the power source. Once the inky darkness draped in around them, John instantly felt sleep swamp his mind and within minutes, he was lost to his dreams…

…And then something woke him.

John didn't know what or how, but something woke him up. He didn't wake up in a panic so it wasn't a nightmare that did it. But _something_ woke him. He also didn't know how long they'd been sleeping but Sadina had rolled over to her other side, her arm was lying across his chest, and her breathing was slow.

John glanced around, not expecting anything but darkness but he was surprised when he saw a small pinpoint of blue light in the distance. He squinted and stared harder but it remained a pinpoint of light. The light wavered slightly, almost shook, but it was barely noticeable.

"Sadina?" The woman next to him remained dead to the world. John tapped her arm. Still nothing. He shoved her. "Sadina!" She jerked awake.

"Huh...what?" She mumbled groggily.

"See that?"

"See what?"

"Look where I'm pointing."

"It's dark, I can't _see_ you finger. What— Let go of my head!"

John cocked her head in the direction that he was looking. She started to slap his hands away but then stopped.

"Oh…" Her voice sounded small.

"What is _that_?" He asked.

"It's a light." She said simply.

"Yeah, I know that. Where is the light coming from?"

"How should I know?!" She shrieked. "Someone else must have come down here…"

There was a moment of silence.

"My father was the only one who knew where you went." She said meekly.

She didn't say it, but John got the feeling that her father was the last person who would be down here. The only other party who had reason to be here was the one looking for John.

"I'm sure you dad is ok." He offered.

"What if they hurt him?" There were tears in her voice.

"He's ok." John said firmly.

"How do you know?! He wouldn't have given this information out for just anything!" She was getting hysterical. John pulled her into a hug as she started to cry.

"You dad is smart, I'm sure he's fine."

"This is your fault!" She suddenly shrieked, backing out of his embrace. John felt like she had kicked him in the stomach. And she was completely right.

"I…I'm sorry." He said quietly. Sadina sighed.

"I…that wasn't fair."

"No, you're right. This is my fault." John insisted. "Point me in the right direction and I'll leave you alone." He offered. Sadina was quiet for a few seconds.

"They probably think I'm working with you right?" She asked.

"Yeah, probably."

"Then they'll probably shoot me on sight if I try to go back." She sounded frustrated. John let her think for a moment before talking again.

"I need to get out of here before that light gets any closer. If there is anyway I can help you, I will but we need to move now, not later." He said firmly.

"Come on…the staircase isn't far from here." She said dully as she got her stuff together.

"You sure this is what you want to do?"

"I can't help my father if I'm dead right?" She sounded as if she were trying not to cry.

"Right."

Sadina flicked her light on low after a quick debate as to whether or not they should. The need to see won out. They moved quickly now, not strolling casually as they had been doing before. Sadina assured him that the staircase that would lead them to the underworld was close by.

Their quick steps were muffled by the thick layer of dust as they trotted along in the darkness with only one blue light to guide them. There was a new tension between them now. Before it was light and friendly but now…now things had defiantly been shaken up. Sadina was scared…and angry. Her demeanor had changed completely and John wanted to shoot himself for doing this to her.

Soon, a dark cavernous opening yawned up to John's right. They turned towards it and Sadina shined her light down into the space. A long flight of stairs stretched down and out of view.

"Does this go all the way to the bottom?" John asked.

"It goes down ten levels and then we have to find the next set of stairs." Sadina explained. John took a deep breath.

"Let's go then." He said more bravely than he felt. They began their decent.

"Jeppar?" Sadina suddenly asked. "It wasn't your fault ok?"

"Yeah…sure…"

"Hey, it wasn't your fault." She said firmly.

"I didn't have to pull the trigger." John snapped.

"You didn't have a choice. It was not your fault!"

"…but I shouldn't have pulled the trigger." John's voice wavered. Sadina's hand suddenly slipped into his.

"Admare did this. Not you." She insisted. John swallowed against the lump in his throat.

"Sure…" He heard the words. Most of him believed those words. There was ample proof for it…apparently. But part of him still felt the need to blame himself. Part of him was still guilty…

"John? Believe me…you aren't to be blamed for this."

John nodded in the dark. "Ok." But then he noticed something else about her statement.

She called him John.

oOo


	25. We're Gonna be Sinking Soon

**A/N:** My sincere apologies for being a week late! I've been working past writers block…and next week I done got finals so my apologies for future lateness!

oOo

"Do you know what this is?" Rodney was beaming at them from behind the microscope. He shook a floppy piece of dark green stuff at them. Ronon stood with his arms firmly crossed in front on his chest as he glared at the gaggle of scientists on the other side of the room. Needless to say, they had all been relieved when he'd come back two days ago and were all very surprised at what he had discovered. The quest to find out the purpose of the outpost had sprung up out of a need to avenge their fallen comrade. A team of biologists had worked on identifying the plant that Ronon had brought back and they had found something startling.

"What is it Rodney?" Carter demanded.

"It's a baby hive ship." He said smiling. Everyone who hadn't been working on this particular project gawked at him.

"What do you mean?" Teyla asked tentatively.

"Not literally…I mean that would be even cooler but no, not literally. Actually just barely remotely."

"Rodney…" Ronon growled.

"Right sorry. We all know wraith ships are made of organic material right? Ever wonder what that stuff is?"

He got a handful of blank stares.

"Really? You've never wondered what the ships were made of?"

"Rodney!" It was Carter who barked this time.

"Ok ok, yes. The answer to the question which should be on all of your minds is yes. The ships are made of this stuff. Well, that is to say we think the pods are the basic raw material used for the ships. It's a lumber yard! That's what the ancients were guarding or studying or something. Obviously, the ancients aren't there now and the fair people of Brillez came along and saw this as a bargaining chip. That's the only thing that makes sense…I guess."

There was a moment of silence as the new information slowly sunk in. It was Ronon who spoke next.

"So what do we do now?" He asked.

"Well…we can't exactly do anything." Sam said dolefully.

"What do you mean?" Rodney shrieked.

"We can't destroy the place; it might very well be keeping the people in that city from being culled. We can't take it over because…well, it's morally wrong for starters." Sam stared at each team member in turn.

"Might we not go and study the outpost. Perhaps there is a database with the whereabouts of other outposts." Teyla reasoned.

"Yes yes! That would be something at least. I mean, it's not like we've never showed up unannounced before." Rodney paused, getting ready to drop some guilt. "Sheppard would have wanted us to do this. Let us do this for him."

Carter shot him an exasperated look and Rodney knew he had her.

"Fine. Don't force your way in." Sam said firmly. "And I want a zero body count." Rodney nodded enthusiastically, as did Teyla. Ronon just stared and everyone could read his expression.

No promises.

oOo

The air was thicker now. Much, much thicker. According to Sadina, they were nearing the end of the staircase. By the time they got to the bottom of the staircase, the air would be gone.

But the air would return. That is what she promised him. The air would return by some fantastic biological process. Apparently, an entire ecosystem had developed down below their feet. The land was slowly retaking the city; ever so slowly, bit by bit, taking its sweet time for that was on thing the humans didn't have…time. Nature was finding its way at its own pace, past the thick slabs of man made materials. Nature always finds a way.

Their footsteps were completely muffled by the moss covered steps. The light seemed to get lost in the darkness. They just continued into the darkness for hours on end. A few attempts were made at conversation but then died off in the darkness, like the light. Every now and then, when they rested, they caught a slight glimpse of another light, far above them.

John suddenly slipped on one of the steps and fell hard on his rump. Sadina stopped instantly and reached down to help him up.

"You alright?" She asked. John's nose scrunched up.

"Yeah I'm fine." He insisted.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You've been limping for the past hour. How are your feet?" She asked.

"Fine. Their fine."

"Stop being so…stubborn!" She suddenly snapped. "Let down your pride for one moment!"

"And tell you what? That my feet are killing me!? That information is pointless unless you happened to pack one of those chair things in that duffle bag of yours." He growled. Sadina was quiet for a second or two.

"Are you really in pain?" She asked quietly.

"Yes. Is that what you wanted to hear?" John knew he was being short with her but the last few hours had worn down his nerves a bit. Every step he took not only hurt but made him think that this was even more pointless then the step before. This was the battle he'd been fighting in the dark and quiet.

"Do you need to rest?" Sadina asked. John sighed.

"No. No, I need to get out of here." He ran a hand down his face. He suddenly found it hard to catch his breath. Sadina pulled his hand away and pressed something into it.

"Here. A respirator." She said simply. John pushed the odd contraption into his mouth at her instruction, glad for the physical distraction. Very glad. Neither could speak now and Sadina slipped her hand into his and pulled him down the steps again. This jaunt was far quicker than John had expected as they reached the bottom in no more than ten minutes. Sadina moved slower now, unsure of the direction to go. She eventually decided on a path and led him forward. The air was thick and dead, the only sound being the soft rhythmic whine of the respirators. They hurried along, lights sweeping left and right, looking for the telltale signs of a staircase. Sadina had said that it wasn't far from the set of stairs they'd just left. However, John realized with a sinking feeling, the woman was horrible at judging distances. He dreaded to think how skewed her memory would be after all these years sense being down here. But it wasn't like he had a boat load of other options at this point…

Ghostly buildings reached up out of the darkness, barely illuminated by their small blue lights. Thick black covered their heads. John felt like a he was in a submarine in the deepest parts of the ocean where angler fish roamed, their bioluminescent lures bouncing in the darkness, waiting to snatch up a curious fish. Scratch that…John felt like the curious fish being lured in by the lights behind them. _Just keep swimming_…

Quite suddenly, Sadina dropped out of view.

John stared for a moment at the space she had currently been occupying. Then he wanted to shout out her name but obviously couldn't with the respirator in his mouth so he settled for darting forward, light shining down into a wide hole. He could barely see Sadina's form sprawled out below. John stood up slowly, feeling the surface beneath his feet shift and groan. He started to take a step back and his luck decided to split at that precise moment as the floor crumbled beneath his feet.

For a few precious seconds, John thought he was a goner. It would be just his luck to get this far and then fall in a hole and die. But after those seconds, John realized he'd stopped falling and was lying on his throbbing back, staring at darkness, and nearly choking on his respirator. But that was it; no giant slabs of rubble falling down on his head, no creepy creatures running in to get him. It was a pleasant surprise.

He found his blue light and shined it around until he found Sadina's partially buried body. The pleasant surprise was quite thoroughly squashed and replaced with dread. He pushed himself up, stumbled back onto his knees, and then settled for crawling over to her; moving rubble out of the way with a frantic energy. Sadina shifted slightly at the movement and her eyelids fluttered open. Lavender eyes rolled around in confusion; a dust covered hand flitted up to remove the contraption in her mouth. John stopped her. He wished he could say something to comfort her…to ground her. But the need to breath was greater and he forced himself to settle for squeezing her hand and moving into her line of sight. John waited until she had calmed somewhat then continued to dig her out. And then she had suddenly shot up into a sitting position, her hands gripping his arms, pain lacing her lilac gaze. Her breathing hitched a few times and her eyes grew wider for a second before squeezing shut. John immediately searched down her body and found what he was desperately hoping not to find…blood.

The red fluid was seeping out of a long gash in her thigh to mix with the ancient dust and grime in a sticky mess on the ground. John leaned back on his heels and closed his eyes. Despair crept up his spine and slowly sank its cruel claws into his brainstem. His eyes slowly opened and he glanced around the area which was illuminated by his light. Then his head slowly cocked to one side and he narrowed his eyes.

_No freakin way…_

The faint outline of stairs sat at the edge of the light. John snapped himself into action, finding his pack and digging around until he found something that basically resembled a clean bandage. With gentle hands, he tightly wrapped her thigh then scooped up her semi-lucid form and started for the stairs. His only plan now was to get down to where there was air. John originally wanted to go up for air but there were far too many people on his tail to do that safely. There was only one direction to go now…straight down.


	26. No One Here Beside Me

Something new was happening

Something new was happening. It was very new and very strange. The air took on a new feel. It was still heavy but it felt fresh on his skin. Fresh and new. John couldn't quite figure out how deep he was by now but his feet were pulsing with a biting pain and his arms hurt from carrying the lovely bulk that was Sadina for so long. She was unconscious by now and he could feel blood starting to seep past the bandage onto his arm. But John hadn't really wanted to stop until they could breathe again. He didn't think he could go much further but perhaps…perhaps God was on his side right now. Perhaps there was air now. It was worth a shot.

As if responding on their own, his legs gave out and he stumbled to a shaky halt on the never ending staircase. Settling Sadina down next to him and setting his light to his other side, John reached up to pull his respirator out. His hand hovered near his mouth for a moment. But only for a moment. With eager fingers, John pulled the metal from his mouth and breathed in through his nose. Musty oxygen rushed into his lungs. Musty…but breathable. God was on his side. John sighed and leaned his head back against a slimy wall. Slime was a new texture down here. Slime indicated fluid. Fluid indicated life, if only on the most basic single celled level.

Life was good.

Although, knowing his luck, the life would come at him with claws and very sharp teeth…

Back to current affairs… John turned his attention back to the prone woman. He gently pulled the metal piece from her mouth and rubbed away a speck of dirt on her forehead. Sadina didn't stir. John shined his light down on her leg. The crimson stain had spread out over the makeshift bandage. John bit his lip. He dug around in his pack and pulled out the same stuff Sadina had slathered on his back nearly a full day ago. There was nothing else resembling a needle or something to close the gash so John would have to settle for medicine and a tight bandage. He used a knife to tear a bigger hole in Sadina's pants, feeling his cheeks flush as he did it. Using water from his canteen, he flushed out the wound. It went deeper then he'd originally thought.

"John?" Sadina sounded confused and groggy. Did he have to worry about concussion?

"Hey, you know you really shouldn't have stepped where you did." John said lightly.

"No kidding…" She mumbled then hissed as he started to rub the medicine into the wound. John smiled sympathetically.

"Do you hurt anywhere else? Other than your leg I mean." John asked.

"Everywhere." She grumbled. "But nothing like broken bones if that's what you're thinking."

"What about your head?" He tried to keep the panic from his voice but it still crept into it.

"It hurts." Sadina said simply. She closed her eyes and bit her lip.

"Sorry."

"Mm…my stomach just rolled over." She mumbled. John stared at her a second then quickly wrapped up her leg and grabbed his light.

"Let me look at your eyes." He ordered. She didn't resist as he pried open an eyelid. John inwardly cursed. "Do you know what a concussion is?" He asked. She slowly shook her head. "It's…kinda like when you hit your head really hard."

"We call that hitting your head really hard." Sadina said playfully. John snorted a laugh.

"Yeah well, it's not good for you."

"And here I was thinking that my bi-weekly head hitting would clear up my skin. Don't treat me like a child just because our cultures are different."

"Right. Sorry."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"So how far should we be from the underworld?" John asked nonchalantly.

"Not too far. I think."

"Good. We'll start moving again in a bit." He promised. John wanted to leave now but he could hardly stand much less carry Sadina down a flight of stairs. He pulled out a thin blanket and wrapped it around her. He told her to sleep, promising himself that he would wake her every two hours. Once she was relatively settled, John sat back and dug out some food. As he ate, he watched her. She couldn't be down here anymore. She needed medical help. And he couldn't give it to her. John mused that he had two options. Neither option was appealing. There were two ways out of here; with a group or just the twosome. And he highly doubted that he could sneak past an army with a woman in his arms. It was infuriatingly frustrating being in the sucky position he was in. He had next to zero leverage. Except for one sucky ace up his sleeve…

oOo

Rolend knew he was close. Tantalizingly close. The man was easy to track in the thick dust of the lower levels. Almost too easy. Sheppard was smart so why was he leaving such an obvious trail? Why was he virtually boxing himself into the stairwell? More importantly, this behavior didn't fit a hardened criminal mastermind. The man was running yes, but who wouldn't in his situation.

Rolend leaned back against the ancient wall. The air was filled with the quiet murmur of a dozen respirators as his men and women settled down to rest. They'd been marching steadily for over a day now. All of them were exhausted. Rolend let his eyes slide shut and his mind wander as his breathing slowed and his muscles relaxed. And then his lungs froze for a millisecond as a cold metal blade pressed up against his jugular. Perhaps Sheppard was more criminal than he thought…

A rough hand gripped the back of Rolend's shirt collar and pulled upwards. He scrambled to his feet. The blade stayed in place while the hand pulled the collar sideways, down the wide staircase. Rolend forced himself to stay calm; panicking would only result in his blood all over the never ending steps. He could hear the uneven breaths behind him. Those were the sounds of an injured man. If it came down to hand to hand combat, Rolend mused that he could possibly beat Sheppard. Although, desperation drove a man's body to extremes.

They walked for hours. Down down down into the abyss. Sheppard never showed himself, never pushed Rolend to hard, never hurt him. There was just a constant pressure on his neck. Sometime after they'd left Rolend's people, Sheppard turned on a light, the blue glow bouncing off the walls of the staircase. In another hour, his people would come after them. Surely Sheppard guessed this…

Quite abruptly, Sheppard jerked him to a stop then reached around and yanked out the respirator. Rolend almost panicked then but he held it together…and held what breath he had left.

"You can breathe now." Sheppard said dully. Rolend didn't hesitate, just sucked in the oxygen. "I want a deal." The fugitive said.

"I'm listening." Rolend insisted.

"Sadina didn't do anything. I want her to go free." Sheppard hesitated. "I'll give myself up but she gets immediate medical attention and goes free." Rolend blinked.

Was it really this easy?

"What's wrong with her?" He asked. Sheppard released his hold on him and walked forward. It was the first time Rolend had seen him in a while. The man was haggard and dirty. Thick stubble was morphing into a beard. Smears of dirt covered his clothes so that it was hard to tell their original color. The man walked down the stairs with a pronounced limp. He was a mess.

Rolend followed the man until they came to a large lump on the stairs. Sheppard kneeled down and pulled back a blanket. Addie Savin was under it, curled up into a tight ball with one leg awkwardly sticking up.

"She fell. Tore open her leg and hit her head really hard." Sheppard said gravely. "Sadina didn't have anything to do with Marklov. We didn't even meet until after my week in the prison. I only came to her because I found her key card."

Rolend was quiet for a few moments before talking. "So you want to exchange her life for yours?" Sheppard looked sharply at him.

"Yeah."

"What if I said no? You brought me down here alone but you know people will come after me. What could you do with your head start? Kill your friend?"

"Look, I know it's a sucky plan! Don't rub it in!" Sheppard growled. The man was functioning on frayed nerves. Rolend pitied the man. Which is why he was going to share the information that he was…

"Ms. Savin won't be arrested. We've already made a deal with her father." Rolend said simply. Sheppard's shoulders slumped and his eyes closed.

"Thank you." He said quietly. "Did you hurt her father?"

"No."

"Can you get her out of here?" Sheppard asked. His voice sounded small.

"Yes, I'll get her out."

"Thank you."

There were a few moments of awkward silence.

Rolend had seen thousands of criminals in his thirty years in security. He'd personally hunted down hundreds of them. He'd been there to see them cornered; heard every possible excuse and plea bargain. He'd seen them begging and cursing as he gave the final orders for execution. Rolend knew a few things about how to read a man.

Sheppard had done nothing.

"The way I see it, Sadina's safe return was already established. I'm sorry but your surrender is not accepted." Rolend said.

Sheppard stared at him. "What?"

"Mr. Sheppard, we have less than an hour before my people discover my absence. I'd completely abandon you to the terror of the deep but I have spies amongst my team and—"

"And you have to make it look good." Sheppard was still staring.

"Exactly."

The man visibly relaxed. "Thank you." A ghost of a smile flitted across his face.

"I don't know if there is a door to the outside down there but I do know there are dangers down there that you haven't fathomed. Be careful Sheppard. Just because I'm not arresting you doesn't mean I'll come running to your aid."

Sheppard's head bobbed up and down. "Tell…um…tell Sadina…thanks, for me. When she wakes up."

"Of course." Rolend carefully picked up the limp woman and started upwards again. Then he stopped and turned back to the disheveled man. "Good luck Sheppard."


	27. Ta Da!

oOo

Rodney was giddy. Very very giddy. In a completely disgusted sort of way. The outpost was more of a biologists dream come true but astrophysicists could have fun with it too! Or maybe he was still giddy over the date he was going on with Keller next week… Regardless the data base in the outpost was amazingly detailed. There were accounts on how the pod material was processed into ship building material (a very nasty biological wraith process) and a detailed analysis on the properties of the pods. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. It was all very exciting.

Rodney dove into the work with vigor, trying to distract himself from the memories that had surfaced from being on this world. That's what they were all doing really. And he personally was doing a good job of it.

"Rodney?" Teyla touched him on the shoulder.

"What?"

"What is this light that is flashing?" She pointed to a screen that looked like the HUD's on the jumpers. A bright red dot was flashing on it.

"Huh…I dunno. Hold on a sec…" Rodney plugged his computer into the Ancient counsel and tapped for a few moments on his screen. Then he smiled. "It would seem as though there are puddle jumpers in this little outpost." He said triumphantly. "Hm…this is a distress beacon from a jumper several miles away. In the city." Rodney's forehead scrunched up. He tapped out a few more commands. Then he suddenly looked around the room until he found one of scientists that had been there before…the ones who didn't know anything about this place at all.

"You…yes you. Come here." Rodney demanded, his fingers snapping. "When was the last time a puddle jumper had been taken out of this place?"

The man looked at him as if he were crazy. That answered that question. "Right ok, when did this start flashing?" Rodney asked, gesturing towards the big screen.

The man shrugged. "A few days ago."

"Rodney?" Teyla knew something was up. She didn't know just how big it was. Rodney almost didn't want to tell her…what if he was wrong? But then again, this was just the kind of thing he would pull…

"I, um…I have a hunch." He said meekly, still not quite sure if he wanted to believe it… not sure if he wanted to raise up his own hopes only to have them dashed to bits later. But…but this _fit_.

"What is it Rodney?" Teyla demanded.

"It's just… I don't think anyone in the city or in this outpost have the gene or even know how to make anything work, much less knowing how to turn on the distress beacon on a puddle jumper."

"What are you suggesting?" She was shaking. There was hope in her eyes. By now, Ronon had wandered over to them.

Yes. What are you suggesting Rodney?

"It's a long shot. Probably nothing." He tried his best to wave it off.

"Rodney." Ronon growled.

"Ok ok." Still he hesitated. "What if it's Sheppard?" At first, the words were a shock coming out of his own mouth. He could feel the tension that had sprouted up between the three.

"Sheppard?" Ronon asked in disbelief.

"But the ashes…they were sent back." Teyla insisted.

"I know but that was a pretty small box and stuff like that can be faked."

"Why would it have been faked?" Ronon asked.

"I don't know! Look, I know it's a long shot but what if it is him?"

"Then we cannot abandon him." Teyla said, her voice full of resolve.

"We can at least search the city. Just to be sure." Ronon said. "Can you get those coordinates on a life signs detector?"

"Yes of course. But I think we have a bigger problem here; how do we get into the city?"

"Would there not be a doorway into the city? From when it was only a few levels high?"

"Well, I suppose. But how do we know it's not blocked or anything?" Rodney pointed out.

"Can you scan the wall and look for weak spots?" Ronon asked. "We find one and break in."

"Yes and while I'm at it, I'll just find my magical unicorn and we can just fly over the walls." Rodney snapped sarcastically.

"What?" Ronon looked at him as if he were talking nonsense… which he sorta was.

"Never mind. The answer is no, I don't have a portable x-ray."

"You need a scanner?" The man Rodney talked to earlier piped up. Rodney almost forgot he was standing nearby. "We have one that we use to check the integrity and thickness of the pods."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Ok…ok I guess we go looking for a door." Rodney offered. Ronon smiled wolfishly. Teyla looked relieved. "But first we are grabbing one of the spare jumpers because I am _not_ walking that far."

oOo

He'd hit rock bottom. Well… it wasn't quite rock. Actually, it seemed like fungus. But it was the bottom, none the less. John didn't even recognize the shapes of buildings anymore; they were just fuzzy angular caves. The ground was no longer stone or pavement or whatever the heck they made their roads out of; the ground now was definitely dirt. He'd even gotten down and dug a small hole to study the type of soil. And then he hastily dropped the soil as a half a dozen bio-luminescent bugs started to climb out of it. Strange plants grew everywhere, thick enough so that he couldn't walk in a straight line for more than five feet.

It was sort of peaceful down here. He could hear the sounds of chirping insects and the occasional growl of something bigger but that was it. It wasn't a dead sort of silence, the type that makes one lonely. No, this was the sort of silence that made one feel relaxed; or in John's case, took away just enough tension to keep him from having a heart attack.

Something was giving off light down here. It was still pretty dark but if John turned off his light, he could see hundreds of blue lights all around him. They didn't give off enough light to read by but he could vaguely see the ground in front of him. Without his light on, it seemed like a really starry night on Atlantis.

John decided, after nearly tripping for the umpteenth time on his own weary feet, that he would stop and rest for a few minutes. He stretched out under a tall leafy plant and propped his head up on his backpack. John knew he couldn't rest long. He'd been extended a massive amount of grace but that grace had no guarantees for the future.

John leaned back and stared up at the blue studded darkness above. Something scuttled along through the plant life somewhere off to his left. It didn't worry him. Creatures squawked and yelped occasionally, from the unseen depths. John suddenly missed having Sadina next to him. He realized he'd gotten accustomed to having her presence at his side. He realized how much she kept him grounded with her quick wit…and melodious voice…and her soft hand in his. John found himself grinning stupidly. He had found a spark of romance! In the most horrible place imaginable, he had found that rare spark of romance! It wasn't overt…he wasn't ready to marry the woman. But he _missed _her. His heart had nearly torn in two when he saw her buried under the rubble. And his heart was tearing now. Rodney would be laughing his rump off if he saw John now. And with good reason; John felt like a school boy with a crush.

A new noise interrupted John's musing. It made his blood run cold. The distant whine came from his right. But it was quickly coming towards him. John pushed himself under the plant and waited. It wasn't long before the whine became a soft metallic roar and a long mass swept far above his head.

John cursed. This was the last thing he'd been expecting down here. But he quickly decided that he couldn't afford to leave the darts existence a mystery. John leapt up, snatched up his pack and tore after the dart, which was quickly becoming a background noise. He only hoped it would keep flying in a straight line…


	28. The Calvary

oOo

Sadina jerked awake then instantly regretted it as a sharp pain flashed up her thigh.

"Easy..." A woman's voice instructed her. Sadina felt herself moving but she was lying flat. Her hand slid slowly off its place on her stomach and searched the surface she was lying on. It was a thick heavy cloth of some sort. A stretcher. Sadina blinked and tried to figure out what was happening.

John.

"Where is he!?" She demanded, forcing her sore body upwards. A pair of hands forced her back down.

"Take it easy!" The voice commanded. It belonged to a dark skinned woman who was trotting along next to Sadina. Things were becoming clearer now, through the terrible headache.

"Where is he?" She asked again, more calmly this time. The woman regarded her with a long stare.

"I don't know. The chief of security found you alone on the steps." The woman told her. "My name is Nik. You're going to be ok Ms. Savin." Sadina was hardly listening to what the woman was saying anymore.

Alone? She had been found alone? Why?

"Where are you taking me?" She asked frantically. She couldn't leave John to roam alone down here.

"We're taking you to the hospital. You're father is waiting." Nik assured her. But Sadina didn't want to go back…not now. She tried to sit up again but it was becoming abundantly clear that she lacked the strength to do so.

She was stuck here.

And it was killing her.

oOo

John kept running, hard and fast, ignoring the pain in his feet which was easier to do now since adrenaline thudded through his veins. The whine of the dart had long since faded but he kept running anyway, in the same direction. That seemed to be the only thing he did now; run. John wanted to quit. He wanted a warm bed and a hot shower and a slice of pizza. And to _not_ be chased for at least 24 straight hours. Or shot at. Or injured.

There was light on the horizon. Not sunlight. A bluish-green glow that was much brighter than any of the bioluminescent plants or animals that John had seen so far. It wasn't long before the source of the lights came into view. The ground dropped away sharply and John skidded to a stop, falling heavily onto his rump and panting from the run. Before him, in a deep craterlike space, a large compound stretched out. There were four large warehouses, two at each end of the crater. A squat square building sat in the middle and a dozen smaller sheds peppered the compound. The light emanated from big round lamps that perched on top of tall poles that were placed around the center building. No one guarding the place that he could see. Which didn't mean there wasn't anyone…

John stared at it all with wide eyes. What the _heck_ was going on down here? His eyes skipped over the whole thing, resting on a disturbing site; the wraith dart sat on what looked like a helipad in front of the main building. Only one dart and the buildings were certainly not wraith technology. But there was only _one_ dart. If this was a culling, there would be more darts zipping around. So _what was going on?_

John glanced down and studied the incline that lead down into the crater. It wasn't all that steep if he slid down carefully. So he did. He slid down to the bottom, which was clear of all plant life, and then ran quickly for the shadow enshrouded wall of the nearest warehouse. From where he crouched, John could see the door open on the main building. A woman in a stiff uniform walked out. Following on her heels was a tall wraith. The odd pair walked smartly to the warehouse next to the one John hid next to. He got down on his belly, scooted to the front end of the building, and stuck his head around corner to see what exactly was happening. Woman and wraith disappeared into the warehouse for several long minutes before emerging again, an ecstatic grin on the face of the wraith. A few words were exchanged. A handshake was exchanged, the feeding hand decidedly _not_ grasped by the woman's smaller hand. Then the wraith clambered into the dart while the woman disappeared into the main building.

The whole affair screamed foul.

John scanned the compound quickly then ran for the nearest warehouse door. It wasn't locked. He slipped inside and quietly closed the door behind him. A strong, nauseating odor swamped his nostrils. It reminded him of a certain prison that he hoped to forget. The warehouse was dark inside but he got a sense of space all the same. John turned on his small blue light and froze.

Hundreds of pale, wide eyed faces stared fearfully at him. Hundreds of people, men, women, children, were crammed into the large space. And that was only what he could see from his relatively small circle of light.

John was caught off guard for a moment and all he could do was stare back at them. He wasn't surprised, per say, but the sight was none the less shocking. These were wraith stockyards.

He instantly knew he couldn't leave these people here. But he also knew he could drag hundreds, probably thousands, of people through the darkness to search for a door which might not be there. Which meant he would have to find the door first and come back for them…which certainly wasn't an appealing idea.

The whine of dart engines reached past the cold warehouse walls and John cracked the door open in time to see the dart scooping up a compressed group of people outside of the warehouse. Somewhere inside the building, a child started to cry. But that was the only noise from the captive people. John glanced around at them again. He hated that he had to leave them here, but he really didn't have a choice.

"I'm coming back for you." He promised those within hearing distance. No one said anything back.

John turned his light off and quickly slid out into the main compound again. And straight into the path of an on coming guard. The two stared at each other for a split second. Then John bolted to his left. The guard shouted and fired a weapon. John felt something fast whip past his cheek. He feigned right and then ducked left again, running parallel to the warehouses. An alarm blared across the compound. John found a side door and darted into the building again. Without turning his light on, John slammed the door shut and carefully started wading through the mass of people, hoping to hide amongst them. He heard the door open scarce seconds later and ducked down into the masses. There were two guards this time, shouting to the people, threatening them, ordering them to give up John's position. A few people muttered something about not seeing anything. John was touched. But then again, these people had nothing to loose.

Still, he wouldn't let them get killed on his behalf. He couldn't do that. Not again. _Never_ again. John suddenly leapt up in the crowd and turned on his light, shining like a beacon.

"Make a path!" He shouted to the people around him. They did so, squeezing themselves together to give him skinny path, all the way to the other door. John bolted down it. The guards shouted, instantly giving chase. In seemingly no time, John reached the door and threw it open, darting outside. He knew he needed to get out of this crater so he tore around the corner and started running pell-mell for the lest steep part of the crater wall. A weapon fired. The bullet clipped his shoulder and John skidded on the rocky ground, tripping and rolling and popping back up rather ungracefully. But he was up and running, albeit listing to one side. He had just reached the end of the warehouse when a black clad arm came out of nowhere to catch him full in the stomach. John somersaulted over the arm and landed in an ungainly heap on the ground, the wind knocked clean out of him.

He lay there, lungs frantically trying to fill again. Mouth working to suck in the air. Vision graying. Stomach bucking madly in protest. For a few agonizing seconds, John panicked. But then his body righted itself and his lungs inflated. Then there was a vicious kick to his groin. John curled up, groaning. A large guard stood over him, a mean scowl affixed to his face.

"What are you doing here?" The man asked. John didn't really feel like replying.

Another kick. Another breathy groan.

What are you doing here?!" The man demanded to know. Still John didn't answer, his fingers slowly inching down to the knife sheath at his boot.

Kick.

Question.

No answer.

The man cocked his foot back to kick again and kick he did, right into the waiting blade. The guard howled in pain and leapt back, tearing his foot from the held knife. John tried to stand up, failed, and settled for expertly flinging his knife into the neck of his assailant. The sound of a gun cocking reached his ears and John tentatively glanced over his shoulder at the man aiming a weapon at him.

John knew he couldn't survive this one. Not now. Not here. He closed his eyes then thought better of it and opened them again, staring down his soon to be killer. Then quite suddenly, the man toppled sideways in an explosion of red energy.

John blinked.

He couldn't have possibly seen what he'd just saw…right?

Another guard rushed up and again, fell to the ground in a spurt of angry red light. Sounds of P-90 fire popped sporadically around the compound. John just stared at the recently deceased guard.

"Sheppard!" An all too familiar voice reached into his spinning mind. A dreadlocked head came into view. "Sheppard, are you ok?"

John blinked again. "Ronon?" They'd come? After all this time…they'd actually come? But he was alone…wasn't he? "What the heck took you so long?" John demanded drunkenly. Pain was starting to dull his thinking. And the relief of seeing his teammate…and the other half a dozen emotions swamping his mind. The big man helped him into a sitting position and John winced at the movement.

"John!" It was Teyla this time. She ran to him, sweeping him into a tight hug that really made him wince. John suddenly felt extremely weary. His eyelids felt heavy. They were talking to him but he couldn't really understand what they were saying. Then it hit him. They were _here_. His team had _come_. He was _not_ alone.

"Sheppard!" Rodney's irritating pitch snapped him out of it.

"Get me out of here." John pleaded. "Get me out of this freakin' city. Please."

"Can you walk?" Ronon asked.

"No." John snorted. And it felt really good to say it. It felt good to be able to lean on his team.

"Hold on John, the door is not far from here." Teyla assured him. She gripped his hand for comfort. Then Ronon hauled him up and over his shoulder. The position was too much for his abused stomach muscles. But John was ready to let go, was ready to let his team get him out. He slipped into darkness.

oOo

* * *

A/N: Don't worry, this is not the end! We still have bad guys to square away, stockyards to clear, young doctors to save and goodbye's to be made… but it is the beginning of the end!


	29. Are we Safe Yet?

oOo

Teyla could hardly believe it. And yet…and yet the sight was the most natural thing in the world. In a way. Seeing John sprawled out on the jumper bench…he looked so peaceful, like he was asleep. But a closer look belied the peaceful façade. His hair was greasy and caked with dirt. His face was discolored from dust and nearly healed bruises. His clothes were shabby and torn. Teyla imagined that his brow would be furrowed in pain had he not been unconscious.

Rodney piloted the jumper while Teyla and Ronon started to stabilize their banged up CO. Teyla slit his shirt open and cleaned out the bullet wound. It wasn't all that bad; superficial actually. The bullet went through the thin layer of fat on the side of his arm, going straight through to exit the on other side. Ronon pulled off Sheppard's boots and damp socks and tucked a blanket around his body.

It was still so surreal. Yesterday, they were so sure he was dead. They were healing from his death. They were making plans to send his stuff back to his brother. They were planning his funeral and figuring out schedules so the team could go to earth for it. And then they had run off on a whim. A long shot. And they had found him running from gun toting guards all on his own. They had _found _him. And here he was, lying limp in the jumper, oblivious to the world around him. Very much alive.

And not so oblivious, Teyla saw. His hazel eyes were open and glancing around. She smiled at him and he slowly smiled back.

"Hey." He mumbled.

"How are you feeling John?" She asked.

"Fine." It was an automatic response. Teyla could easily see he was not fine. John's eyebrows screwed up.

"Where are my shoes?"

"I got 'em right here." Ronon told him. John nodded slowly. He wasn't completely with it, Teyla saw.

"We're taking you back to Atlantis John." She informed him.

"I know." He insisted, in obvious relief. But then his eyebrows scrunched up again. "I need to go back."

"No, you do not." Teyla insisted.

"Yes…yes I do!" John started to sit up and frowned as his torn sleeve flopped forward. "You cut my shirt?" Teyla ignored the question, suddenly concerned about John's psyche.

"John, did you hit your head?" She asked.

"Probably." John said simply. He absentmindedly toyed with the bit of cloth that was once his sleeve while he stood. "We need to go back."

"Lay down." Ronon ordered.

"No. We need to go back!" John made his way to the cockpit. Teyla grabbed his arm but he shrugged her off. "Turn around Rodney." John ordered.

"No! We just got you back from the dead Colonel; I am _not_ taking you back there!" Rodney insisted. This seemed to put John back a step.

"You guys thought I was dead?" He asked meekly.

"Seriously? We don't rescue you until now and you seriously think anything different?" Rodney snapped. He was feeling guilty…they all were.

"Rodney." Teyla growled in warning. "Admare made it very clear to us that you had been executed." She told John.

"Really? I got away from him a week after he had me." John sat heavily in one of the chairs. "How did he make you think I was dead?"

"He sent us you're remains in a nice little box." Rodney snapped.

"My remains?" John's eyebrow shot up. "And you didn't test to make sure it was me?"

"Yes of course we did. It was a box of ashes. There were…bits of you in it." Rodney said awkwardly. John's face lightened a shade.

"Yeah…I guess I lost some skin in the prison. It's kinda creepy that they kept it."

"What…what did they do to you?" Rodney asked. John instantly closed down. There were a few moments of awkward silence.

"This isn't one of our jumpers." John suddenly pointed out. It wasn't just to change the subject, Teyla saw. He was having trouble focusing on things. He didn't seem to fully understand what was happening.

"Long story short, there is an ancient outpost not to far from the city. We found the jumper there." Rodney said. _He_ couldn't focus either. Normally, Rodney would have wasted five minutes trying to explain to John all that had happened but he had actually summed it up quite nicely this time.

"Are there more jumpers?" John asked.

"Yes…why?"

"We're going back with two jumpers." John stated.

"No." Ronon said firmly. John glared at him.

"Look those buildings you guys found me by were filled with people. That was a wraith stockyard. I am _not_ leaving them there." John insisted. This shut them all up for a few moments.

"We can come back after we have taken you to Atlantis." Teyla offered.

"No. It will take to long. I don't know how often the wraith drop by there to get a snack and I won't take the risk of killing a few people just to make me more comfortable." John spoke with such a great conviction. Teyla found herself agreeing with him.

"How badly are you injured?" Teyla asked.

"Oh don't bother!" Rodney snapped. "He'll just tell you he's fine." Teyla looked John in the eye. He fidgeted.

"Ok, my feet are screwed up, I won't be eating anytime soon and I could really use a shot of morphine. Happy? But that doesn't mean I can't fly a jumper in a straight line." John insisted. "I have a feeling there will be a lot of women and kids in the warehouses so we'll fly them out first. If it's taking to long then we can have Ronon and Teyla take groups out on foot while me and Rodney keep ferrying the weaker ones back to the outpost."

"So where are they going from there?" Rodney challenged.

"I don't know, I haven't figured that out yet."

"We could take them to the village." Ronon offered.

"What village?" John asked. Teyla forgot for a moment that he hadn't been with them to discover what else was on this planet.

"There is a fairly large village south of the outpost."

"Perfect. We'll take them there." John said. "So maybe we can take them out in two big groups and guard each one with a cloaked jumper."

"So what, we're just going to dump these people on the village?" Rodney challenged. "I'm sorry to be the voice of reason here but we can't just run in there and free the slaves without a place for the slaves to go."

"How did you guy's get here?" John asked.

"Hitched a ride on an ugly looking merchant ship from a solar system next to this one; we couldn't get close enough in the Daedalus." Rodney explained.

"Well, it will take some time but we can get supplies from Atlantis and help the people out." John insisted. Rodney muttered something under his breath. "Come on guys, would you really be able to leave those people there?" John challenged.

"No." Teyla finally said. McKay huffed.

"I'll send one of the biologists back to the Daedalus to let Sam know what's happening so she can get supplies ready." Rodney finally said.

"Biologists?"

"Yeah we should probably swap stories on our way to the outpost…"

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea." John said wearily. "But first, do you have any aspirin on you?"

oOo

Sadina sat dumbly on the hospital bed, glaring daggers at the woman in a white uniform who was changing her bandage. The woman smiled tightly and tried to make polite conversation. The only problem that this wasn't the conversation Sadina wanted to be having.

"Look, enough already!" She finally snapped. "Will you just answer my question?"

"Which question dear?" The woman asked. Sadina wanted to wring her neck.

"Did you find anything out about the student doctor named Ike Minum?" Sadina said slowly.

The woman hesitated, obviously knowing something but not wanting to share it.

"Please," Sadina said quietly, bringing tears to her eyes. "I need to know where he is. This is really important to me…please."

The woman gripped Sadina's hand in a comforting gesture. "I'm sorry dear, but Ike Minum was arrested five days ago."

Sadina's world bucked. She hadn't really considered what would have happened to the younger man. The woman had left but Sadina didn't really care. Ike was in prison because of her. The thought brought tears to her eyes. She lifted a shaking hand to her mouth and stifled the sob that escaped from it.

What had she done?

"Addie?" A strong voice reached into her thought process.

"Father." She bit her lip to stop another sob. Her father rushed into the room and wrapped her up into a tight hug. Sadina cried into his shoulder, feeling like she was five years old.

"What is it daughter?" He asked gently.

"The doctor who helped Sheppard is…he was arrested. It's my fault!"

Her father was quite for a moment, content with simply holding his daughter. When he did speak it was with a stern, confident voice. "I'll pull some strings and cash in a few favors." He promised. "We'll get you're doctor out."

"Thank you predak." She mumbled into his shirt. "Thank you so much."

"Now, why don't you tell me what happened down there."

oOo


	30. Die Hardest

oOo

5

oOo

"John you must sit still!" Teyla scolded. John shot her a sheepish smile as he gripped the jumper controls.

"Sorry." He muttered. His eyes skipped over the emergency med kit that was in her hands. John never thought he would be so excited to see it. He also never thought he'd be so relieved to feel the quiet hum of the puddle jumper in his hands. John felt like he was just _barely_ keeping up with what was happening. It felt like he was still back in the underworld when really he'd actually left there, went to the outpost for ten minutes, and was now on his way _back_. They were sticking with John's original plan after ordering two of the bewildered biologists to forewarn the village and to get back to the Daedalus to talk to Carter.

"Ow…" He mumbled as Teyla cleaned the bullet wound on his shoulder.

"Sorry. I am almost done." Teyla assured him. John nodded. He felt a little odd being shirtless while he piloted the jumper and Teyla cleaned his wounds. Ronon scared one of the biologists into giving John a new shirt but Teyla insisted cleaning the deeper scrapes and wounds he had before she let him put the shirt _on_. He'd hesitated but followed her stern orders, trying his best to ignore the small gasps she made when she discovered his freshly scarred back.

"Done." Teyla said lightly, handing him the shirt which he awkwardly shrugged into with her help. Her hand lingered on his shoulder for a moment. "John you should not be doing this."

"I know." John said curtly. "But I can't leave them there."

"You would not have to. We could have done this without you."

"I know." There was a moment of silence. "But I think I need to be there."

Teyla squeezed his shoulder lightly. "Do not push yourself unnecessarily." She warned.

"Or what?" John teased.

"Or I will inject you with morphine." She threatened.

"Fine…" John mumbled. He mentally insisted that he didn't need to hold back but then the jumper dipped unexpectedly…and it wasn't because he told it to. John was beginning to doubt his ability to pull this off.

Within five minutes, they reached the outer wall; the bashed in door clearly visible from where he sat. It was weird to see it now; the thing which he had been seeking for days from the _other_ side. And now he was coming back. John really didn't want to come back. He would be happy if he never saw the place ever again. But he _had_ to come back.

The door, while humongous, only had a man-sized hole punched into it. He put the jumper down off to the right of the door, imagining Rodney putting his jumper down to the left. Together, the four of them plunged back into the underground. It only took five minutes to find the compound again. When they found it, they crouched along the edge of the crater and took turns peering through binoculars. It was quiet. The bodies of dead guards were still strewn about. John suddenly realized how many guards were there.

"Ok…" He finally said quietly. "Let's get them out one warehouse at a time. I don't think we should take them all at once."

As one unit, they slid down the side of the crater and moved to the first warehouse. Ronon had already assured John that all of the guards were dead but they still moved with their guns ready as they crept up to the door. John slid inside first, shinning his flashlight on the startled faces of the people there.

"Um…can you guys understand me?" John asked no one in particular. Pale, frightened people stared at him with wide eyes. However, one brave skinny man stepped forward on shaking legs.

"You…you were here earlier." The man stated.

"Yeah, that was me." John muttered. "Look, we're here to free you."

The man blinked. "Free?"

"Yeah, we took care of the guards outside. You're free now." He said awkwardly. A timid murmur spread throughout the warehouse. "Look, you can go where you want but we have a place for you to go if you want it."

The man, who now seemed to be the spokesperson for the people, stepped forward. "Where…are we?" He asked. It didn't occur to John until then that these people knew virtually nothing of their situation.

"Ground floor." His stomach dipped suddenly at the words.

The man's eyes grew round. "And where are you taking us?" John realized he was doing this very badly. And he also realized that his stomach was doing more then just dipping; it was rolling violently. It was getting hard to focus on talking _and_ keeping the contents of his stomach in place.

"Rodney!" He yelled out the door. John suddenly sure he could stand up anymore.

"What's wrong?" Rodney appeared in the door. John waved him over as he made his way outside.

"Just…let them know what's happening." John told him. Then made a hasty retreat out into the open where his stomach finally heaved and he spewed bile onto the rocky ground, falling shakily to his knees.

"John?" Teyla came running to his aid instantly.

"Get them ready to go." John ordered. He stood on weak legs and Teyla pulled his arm around her shoulders and snaked an arm of her own around his stomach. She started steering him back towards the jumpers. "Teyla—"

"This is ridiculous John; you are _not _well." She scolded him.

"Yeah, you're right. But we need to get them out." He insisted.

"Yes, we will get them out but you _must_ rest." She planted his butt in the back of the jumper. "Stay here John. I will send Rodney to fly you back. Ronon and I will lead the people back to the village."

John wanted to immediately tell her no. He wanted to help. He wanted to bring the slaves out of Egypt, so to speak. But if he was to be perfectly honest with himself, John didn't think he could stay upright for much longer… and he hated it.

"John, stay here." Teyla ordered. He nodded sheepishly and she was gone. John leaned back against the jumper wall and sighed heavily. He let his eyes slide shut as he lifted a clenched fist to his forehead. Everything finally started to sink in a bit; in the quiet of the puddle jumper. John decided that he didn't quite want it to sink in yet…whatever _it_ was. He stood and paced two steps before his legs threatened to give out. John slowly sat down again then stretched out lengthwise on the cushy bench seats. He let his eyes shut again. And it was suddenly harder to motivate himself to open them. Then again, John figured a little sleep would do him good.

oOo

Sadina craned her neck to get a view of the young doctor in the bed at the other end of the room. Nurses had been fluttering about Ike ever since Sadina had woken up. She had a vague idea why, if Ike was in any condition Sheppard had been in when she found him. Sadina had not been allowed to help with the rescue of Ike Minim. She had simply woken up last night with the thickly bandaged Ike shaped lump in the bed next to hers. Sadina watched him, feeling her anger smolder; anger at herself…anger at Admare. Actually, she felt a lot of anger towards Admare…towards the one who caused all of this.

As the last of the nurses left, Sadina slid off of her bed and limped over to Ike. He was still unconscious; probably on purpose. The stark white bandages and crisp sheets were strange looking next to the bruised, pale form peeking out from beneath them. Sadina slipped her hand into Ike's, hoping to unconsciously comfort the man. Her head swam a bit and she lifted a hand to the heavy bandage that hid the stitches where they put her cracked skull back together. Sadina sat in the chair that was placed next to the bed.

"I'm going to kill him Ike." She said quietly. "I am going to kill Admare." The man on the bed was unresponsive but perhaps that was best. Who knew what he would say if he actually had heard her. He probably would have told her to let it be; to leave the man alone; to go back to her life. And Sadina would have listened to him except that life could never be normal again; she could never allow herself to be happy if men like Admare were running the city. She didn't know how she was going to kill him; not at all. But she knew for certain that she was going to do it.

She was going to kill the Sovereign.

oOo

Admare's face twitched. "What?"

"There was an attack on the facility. All the men are dead." The woman told him. "I barely managed to get out."

"What sort of attack?"

"A man had infiltrated the facility; the guards went after him and were cut down by an unseen group."

"And what of the stock?" Admare growled.

"I don't know."

"Well then, I'll be sure to place guards at all the staircases." He muttered mainly to himself.

"Sovereign?" A smallish man poked his head into Admare's office. "You have a call from…_her_."

Admare instantly shooed off the woman from the facility and pulled around a big obnoxious organically made screen. He nervously flicked it on. "Yes?" He said to the frightening image.

"Do you realize that there is a mass of humans exiting your city?" The queen asked. Admare blinked. He didn't know actually. He didn't know how that was possible.

"Yes." He lied.

"I still expect payment." The queen snapped.

"Of course. We have many facilities which supply your demands." He insisted.

"So am I correct in assuming this mass if from one of these facilities?"

"Yes." Admare said again, trying to keep his voice confident. "The compound was attacked. I can only assume they meant to free the humans there."

"And what do you plan to do about this?" She asked in that eerie voice of hers.

"We plan to get the people back." Admare said plainly. The queen wraith was silent for a few moments.

"Perhaps I will spare some of my ships to assist in this."

"That would be greatly appreciated." Admare said with a small smile flitting across his lips. Inwardly, he sighed in relief.

"Of course. I will send them as soon as they are ready." She promised.

"Thank you."

The screen went black. Admare leaned back in his chair and sighed outwardly. This job was proving to be more stressful than he had imagined. And Sheppard was proving to be more of a nuisance than he had originally had thought. It was time for the man to die.


	31. Errmm Hello?

oOo

John snapped awake with a jerk. He lay still for a minute, trying to get his bearings. For the briefest of seconds, he thought he was in the guest bed at Sadina's dwelling. But then the familiar smells and feel of the jumper reminded him of his current situation. John turned his head to find Rodney craning his own head to stare at him.

"What?" John asked.

"What—oh, nothing…just…nothing."

John looked out the still open door and frowned slightly. "We haven't left yet?"

"Well, no. It's just that…you were sleeping and I didn't want to…wake you up and there are still a crap load of people to…lead out so I figured staying here wouldn't hurt anything. And plus, its warm outside so I left the door open." Rodney cleared his throat awkwardly. "Teyla took the first warehouse out an hour ago, Ronon left with the second one twenty minutes ago."

"Good…that's good." John paused then narrowed his eyes. "Stop staring at me. It's creepy."

"Right. Sorry." The man didn't move.

"McKay! Cut it out!"

"Right…right. See, I'm turning around." There was another moment of silence. Rodney turned back around to fix John with a nervous gaze. "It's just…I guess we missed you. You were dead you know."

"So now you're staring at me?"

"Ok you know what? Just…shut up. I was just trying to have a heart to heart conversation and you go and screw it up!" Rodney huffed. John smirked. He let the matter hang in the air a moment before speaking.

"I guess…I guess I kinda missed you guys to. It wasn't exactly easy living with strangers like I did. I mean…apparently I died right?" He knew he sounded awkward and rather lame but he was also suddenly gripped with the realization that he was talking with McKay. _Rodney McKay_. Yesterday, John didn't think he would be seeing anything familiar ever again and here he was talking with one of his closest friends. A warm feeling snuck into his gut, something else that he hadn't experienced in a long time.

Rodney coughed.

"Wow…that was really sappy." John remarked.

"…Yeah it was." Rodney remarked back. John frowned.

"So…we good? We don't have to do that again right?"

"No…no I think we're good."

"Good."

The silence that stretched out was comfortable. Natural.

"Wow, I really did miss this." John realized out loud.

"So what, you didn't actually mean it before?" Rodney groused.

"No."

"Wait…really?"

"No McKay! Not really. I just…didn't actually realize how much I meant it."

"Oh…"

More silence.

"Can we go now?" John asked.

"Yeah. I'll just…get the door first."

As Rodney spoke, John suddenly thought he heard an all too familiar whine. "Wait." John snapped. McKay stared at him with wide eyes.

"What is it?"

"Shh." John waved him off and concentrated on the sound. With each passing second, it was becoming all to clear. "It's a dart." John muttered angrily.

"Oh crap…"

John was already pushing himself up and into the pilot's chair, ignoring the pain that pulled on his body. Within mere seconds, he had the jumper in the air and the HUD in place, a couple of dots speeding towards their dot.

"Hang on!" John pulled the jumper into a tight back flip then rolled the ship around until they were upright and speeding towards the ominous wraith ships. John didn't hesitate to loose two drones as soon as he could see the actual ships, cloaking the jumper as soon as weapons were away and snapping into a barrel roll to avoid the energy projectiles that came their way. Rodney was squawking something but John wasn't even remotely paying attention to him. A cloud of fire blossomed off to his right, signifying a hit…but only one. The other dart was whizzing away as fast as it could and John gave chase. A burning anger started to consume his mind as he pushed the jumper to its limits. The dart was pointed straight up, seeking the safety of the hive ship that was perched in space. John had no intention of letting it reach its destination. He loosed another drone and held his breath; letting it whoosh out again at the sight of the ball of fire.

John finally sat back and relaxed his hands a bit, just now realizing that he was shaking. And that his teeth had been clenched together. And that he was breathing hard.

"You ok?"

John suddenly remembered Rodney sitting next to him with wide eyes and a look of timid fear; fear of what, John wasn't sure.

"Um. Yes." He said semi firmly.

"Ok…" Rodney didn't buy it for a second but he seemed to have no interest in pushing the issue. "So what are the chances of those being the only two darts in the area?"

"Really really crappy."

"That's what I thought…" Rodney sighed. "So what do we do now?" He asked in his semi frantic way.

"Well…we have to get the people out now. So we go back and I'll lead the rest of them out while you keep an eye out for darts." John explained.

"Ok first off, Teyla will kill me if I let you out of this jumper. And secondly…well ok, there's no second. I'll lead them out."

"Rodney…"

"No stop. I'll do it. Besides, you're better at flying this thing anyway." He offered, looking like he was ready to fall apart at any moment.

"Be careful." John said warily.

"Yeah. You to." With that said, Rodney was gone and John was back in the air. He did a few sweeps of the area in the cloaked jumper. It wasn't long before the sensors picked up the large group wave of people coming out of the city. John wanted to relax a little bit after that but he couldn't shake the feeling that something very bad was about to happen. As if on cue, a dozen dots appeared in the far left corner of the HUD.

"Crap…" John muttered. He lifted a radio to his lips. "Um…this is your captain speaking; we're about to experience some turbulence up here."

"_What?"_ Rodney's voice squawked back.

"I got a lot of angry wraith on their way... You might want to start running. I don't know how long I can hold them off."

"_Oh…crap!"_

oOo

Sadina couldn't quell her shaking hands as she limped down walkway towards the imposing building. She gripped her package tighter, at least _trying_ to hide the quiver in her fingers. She attempted to speed up again but, _again_, had to slow down when the pain in her leg became unbearable, settling for a slow shuffle that she hoped didn't appear too suspicious. Nervousness fluttered in the pit of her belly, lending a steady stream of adrenaline to her small frame.

The elaborate entrance to the Sovereign's offices came and went in a haze as she continued on her quest. She only snapped out of it when the impatient receptionist demanded her purpose, eying the package with expectancy.

"What?" Sadina asked lamely.

"Who is the package for?"

"The Sovereign."

"Give it to me; I'll see that he gets it." The receptionist held out her hands for the package. Sadina hugged it a little closer.

"I was told to give it directly to the Sovereign." Sadina lied. The words felt funny on her tongue.

"Who is it from?" The receptionist demanded, her eyes full of suspicion. Sadina glanced around nervously, seeing the guards take a step closer. She suddenly questioned her own logic. How could she possibly get past all of this?

"A crime lord, I've no permission to give out his name freely. He comes to offer…gifts. I have a message from him regarding…peaceful dealings. You'll pardon me for not giving you the whole message, it _is_ private." There it was. Her hastily memorized back-story. This whole thing was hasty. It took her a grand total of ten minutes to find a weapon off the street and another thirty to get here.

Sadina handed her delivery license to the receptionist; hopefully proof enough that she was legitimate.

"The package must be scanned." The woman told her. She eyed the license and typed a few things into a computer.

"Of course." Sadina tried to sound natural. She wasn't entirely sure she succeeded.

A guard pried the package from her hands and put it into the scanner. The other guard waved a small handheld scanner over her body. Sadina inwardly bit her lip; surely they would find the weapon. Surely she would be killed or imprisoned. Surely—

"Ma'am?" The first guard held out the package to her. Sadina forced a tight smile onto her face.

"Thank you." She said pleasantly.

"Follow me please."

The guard led her up a plush, carpeted staircase and through a series of doors then up another staircase until they came to a set of tall dark wooden doors. The guard didn't knock, simply hauled one door open and ushered her inside, shutting the door behind her. Sadina glanced around nervously. Admare sat with his back turned towards her. He made no sign that he even knew she was there. He was facing a screen and on the screen, from what she could make out, was a wraith. Sadina bit her lip.

"Yes?" Admare suddenly snapped, now facing her. This was it. Sadina walked towards him.

"I have a package." She said nervously. Another two steps and she reached his desk. Admare glared at her. Sadina's throat tightened and her heart thumped loudly in her chest. Her fingers slipped into her coat and curled around the gun hilt. "And…and I have a message." She jerked the gun out and leveled it at the man. Admare's eyes grew round then promptly narrowed.

"And what do _you_ want to kill me for?" He hissed.

"For ruining my life and the lives of two great men." She was shaking more prominently.

"Oh yes? And who are you?" Admare asked. Sadina hesitated.

"Addie Savin."

"Savin? Oh yes I remember you. You were involved in the assassination of Marklov; with Sheppard."

"_You_ were responsible for the death of the Sovereign." Sadina snapped. Admare pursed his lips together.

"It is ironic that you are here. You're Sheppard is actually causing quite a ruckus even now." He told her. Sadina's heart fluttered.

"How so?"

"He has seen fit to steal a great profit from me. Even so, I will kill him with the help from an… associate." Admare leaned back. "How badly would you like to see me dead?" Sadina's gun dipped. Truth be told, she had never been sure that she could even pull the trigger to begin with. Killing a man took a great deal… commitment.

"How badly do you think you destroyed my life?" She challenged all the same, attempting to sound sure of herself. Admare gave her a thin smile.

"As you may have already guessed, I have a great wish to remain alive. So, lets make a deal, you and I. The attack on Sheppard will be called off and you will kindly put the weapon away." Admare offered. Sadina was actually glad for the option to _not_ kill the man. She was suddenly ecstatic now, actually. But she kept her face full of contempt as faced Admare. Sadina was about to agree when she suddenly realized that she would still be going to prison.

"_This is your captain speaking; we're about to experience some turbulence up here."_

An object on Admare's desk suddenly squawked to life. Both she and Admare stared at it in shock. The small black handheld device sat in amongst other small gadgets and trophies on the Sovereign's desk. More importantly, John's voice was coming out of it.

"_I got a lot of angry wraith on their way…" _

Sadina looked at Admare with wide eyes as John spoke to some other person. Then she snatched the device, frantically trying to figure out how it worked. She ended up squeezing it, being rewarded with a faint click.

"John? John can you hear me?" She demanded. There were a few seconds of static.

"_Sadina?"_

oOo


	32. I'm Here to Save You

oOo

John's stomach did a flip-flop. "Sadina…what…how did you get a radio?" He demanded. It was a dumb question but it was the only thing that came out of his mouth in a full sentence.

"_It was sitting on Admare's desk…how did you get one?"_

"Um…long story short, my people found me. Hang on, you're where?"

"_Admare's office…"_

"Why?"

"_Long story…Where are you?"_

"In a jumper…over the city…" John suddenly cursed as the swarm of darts came into view. "Um…I'm going to have to put you on hold for a second." He pulled the jumper into an impossible maneuver, loosing a drone and skimming the resulting fireball.

"_What the heck is going on!?"_

"Rodney?"

"_Yes Rodney! Who the heck is the chick?"_

"_Me?"_ Sadina peeped.

"_Yes you! Who are you?!"_

"_Addie Savin…you can call me Sadina."_

"_Wait…the chick who helped Sheppard?"_

"_Yep…that's me."_

"Look I don't want to interrupt you but I'm kinda busy up here so could you two shut up?!"

"_Sorry…"_ Rodney muttered.

John wasn't really paying attention; his focus being split between the oncoming enemy and the dozens of questions that surrounded Sadina's sudden appearance…Sadina's sudden appearance in Admare's office… _Admare's freakin' office._ The jumper suddenly shuddered and dipped dangerously. John cursed.

This was _not _going well.

One or two darts were manageable on a normal basis. Three was plausible. Any more than four was pushing it. One or two darts in his current condition was plausible. Three was pushing it. Four and up was impossible. John was currently running on impossible. He wasn't even trying to destroy the pointy ships at the moment; he was simply trying to give them a hard enough time to distract them from the fleeing people on the ground. Even if he _wanted_ to shoot at the darts, he couldn't due to the increasing degree of focus that was required to pull off the sharp turns and loops and other various and impressive evasive maneuvers. To say it was difficult was an understatement. Sweat soaked the front and back of his newly acquired shirt. He was panting; gasping for oxygen.

John suddenly realized he was headed for the city. This was good he decided. The city boasted of several towers and tall buildings for him to weave in and out of.

"Rodney, where are you?" John demanded into his radio.

"_Just barely half way but we're going to have to slow down; these people aren't used to running like this!"_

"Just go as fast as you can."

"_Yeah…will do. Teyla and Ronon are here now."_

"Good… Um, be careful."

"_Yeah, you too."_

Halfway. Which meant there was still a long ways to go. Which, in turn, meant that he still had a lot of distracting to do. And this sucked immensely. If he were to be completely honest with himself, John didn't think he would be able to pull off an escape at this point, let alone when the others were safely away. He was just _too_ tired; physically, mentally…emotionally.

He sighed dejectedly and tightened his grip on the controls while he chewed his lower lip. This was going to be a one way trip…

oOo

Sadina gripped the small black device until her knuckles were white. Her hands shook. A quick glance at Admare proved that he fared no better as sweat seeped out of his pores at an alarming rate; his face screwed up tight in anger. They both stared at the little radio in her hands with a burning intensity. The whole thing was surreal… Not that technology like this was uncommon or anything…it was the entire situation. With this alien human named John.

Said human was speaking with someone else…Rodney. John was speaking with Rodney. And it sounded as if things were not going well. Not well at all. For years Sadina prided herself on how well she could read people; the way their eyes shifted, the way their bodies moved, and especially the way their voices sounded. And right now, John did _not_ sound good. There was such a strain to his voice and a hint of frantic urgency. Something was terribly wrong.

"John?" Sadina called over the radio. "John what's happening?"

There was no answer.

Sadina absentmindedly glanced around the office. It was then that she caught sight of a handful of pea sized specks whizzing through the sky in the distance. Sadina stared at the specks, which were quickly becoming larger than specks. In a few moments the specks became ships. A ship that looked like the one John found in her fathers dwelling was in the lead, racing ahead of a mass of menacing looking ships. _Wraith_ looking ships.

Sadina's attention suddenly snapped back to Admare as he let out a low chuckle. She also suddenly remembered her gun that was hanging by her fingers as she grasped the radio. She readjusted her grip and pointed the weapon at Admare again.

"Your man is as good as dead." Admare snickered. Sadina felt her lip curl up at the corner.

"Be quiet." She snapped. But he was right. There was no _way_ John could evade all those ships. Unless…unless she intervened. "Call them off." She suddenly commanded. Admare blinked. For a brief moment, his proud smile faltered.

"Why should I? I'm about to die so I might as well insure the death of my greatest annoyance." He offered. He was right again of course. But Sadina knew what he was driving at and she had already come to the same conclusion.

"Your life for his." She said simply. "I'll leave you be if you call off the ships."

Admare grinned. "I don't pretend to be brave or particularly driven to destroy his man but I do wish to get the most out of every situation. Right now, I want to live. I want Sheppard to die as well but that's just a bonus. Now the question is do I believe that you will pull the trigger if I don't call off the ships?" He narrowed his eyes at her. Sadina felt her hands shaking but she poured all her resolve and anger into her face and eyes. Then she leveled the weapon at his head and stared back into his eyes. Truth be told, she knew she couldn't actually do it.

"Leave him alone and you go free." She offered one last time. Outside, the ships were streaking in and out of the buildings like flies.

"Deal." Admare suddenly said. He lifted his own communication device to his lips and proceeded to talk to someone on the other end. Sadina anxiously glanced out the window, craning to see the ships.

"Done." Admare said finally. Sadina glanced at him then looked down at the radio in her clenched fist.

"John? John, the ships are backing off." She told the man in the jumper.

"_What about you?"_ He asked. Yes, what about her? She honestly hadn't thought about that. She supposed it was over for her. Surely her father wouldn't be able to get his little girl out of this mess.

"John, listen to me. I want you to leave this planet and never come back." She tried her best to hold back tears but they still leaked down her cheeks.

"_Sadina, what did you do?"_

"It's a long story remember?" She laughed haplessly. "Just…go now please. Before something else happens to you."

"_Where are you?"_ He demanded.

"Admare's office. I told you that."

"_Yeah I know. Where in the office are you?"_

"By his desk, why?"

"_Get to the door, next to that weird thing in the corner. Got it?"_

She glanced around and trotted to the sculpture he was talking about.

"Ok, I'm here."

"_Good, get down on the ground behind it and cover your face."_

She hesitated for a second then hunkered down behind the large bulk of heavy metal and buried her head in her arms as an explosion rocked the building. The air whooshed in around her and the heat of flames briefly brushed by her before bits of safety glass and debris rained down through the thick black smoke. She coughed through the smoke, her ears ringing as she tried to open her eyes.

"Sadina!" John's voice sounded distant…but it _wasn't_ through the radio.

"John?" She croaked. She forced her eyes open against the stinging smoke and suddenly saw a jumper in the middle of the office. The entire wall on the far side of the room was suddenly no more. A big raw gapping hole was cut into the side of the building.

"Sadina…" John was suddenly in front of her, helping her up and herding her into the back of the flying machine. And then they were flying away. It was so sudden…so abrupt. She hardly realized what was happening. John was sitting next to her, concentrated on flying the contraption. Lines of pain creased his face.

"What just happened?" She muttered aloud, holding a hand to her forehead.

"I just rescued you…after you just rescued me." John said simply. There were a few seconds of silence. "No offence, but your city sucks."


	33. Closing Comments

**A/N: Well folks, this is the end. It's been a great ride. Enjoy the last chapter! **

**(p.s. there are two shout-outs to another show in this story, the last one being in this chapter —props to the one who can figure out the show!!)**

* * *

oOo

Breathe.

Take a breath.

Why was it so hard to breathe?

John forced the air into his lungs. Back out again. In again. Out.

It shouldn't be this hard to breath!

He tightened his grip on the controls and blinked a few times.

Perhaps he was having a panic attack. But why? He was actually safe for once. And he got the girl. And they both were safely running away from the bad guys. So why did it feel like his body was shutting down?

The girl. Sadina. She was sitting quietly beside him; shell-shocked. Almost literally. He didn't blame her; the explosive entrance was enough to thrust anyone into shock.

He licked his lips; they suddenly felt really dry. "Sadina?" She blinked. Looked sideways at him.

"Wow…" She mumbled. "Do you always pick girls up this way?"

A smile picked across his lips. "Just the special ones."

"Are you ok?" She asked. It seemed like she was always asking him that. And he was always _not_ ok when she asked it. John didn't answer this time; just glanced at her in a way that screamed no. There were a few minutes of silence where he just tried to keep calm and focused on flying. The jumper shuddered. The straight line he hoped to be flying was nonexistent. Sadina put a soft hand on his shoulder.

"John? I don't think you should be flying this thing." Sadina said soothingly. "Can your people pick us up somewhere?"

"Yeah." He was already steering towards the ground outside of the city. His hands were shaking. John wanted nothing more right now then to sleep. He set the jumper down unsteadily on a stretch of bare rocky ground.

It was over. Wasn't it? He was out. Sadina was safe. The people from the stockyard were well on their way to safety. He could finally relax a bit. But he still felt restless and stressed and on the verge of freaking out. When the ship was on the ground, John got up to move to the comfort of the back bench seats. Sadina was close on his heels. Just as he passed the doorway into the second half of the jumper, John's foot caught the edge of it, tripping him and sending him sprawling face first onto the floor…with a very audible snapping sound as pain shot through his foot. John felt the blood drain from his face but he was able to hold back a cry of pain.

Of course he would re-break his foot now…

"John! Are you ok?" Sadina was down by his side in an instant. John kept his head against the ground, an arm wrapped around it.

"I think I'll just stay here." He muttered into the floor. Then cautiously rolled himself over onto his back and fixed Sadina with a frustrated glare. She smiled sympathetically and came down to sit on the floor by his head, setting his head in her lap. She ran her fingers through his hair while he let his eyelids slide shut.

"I really want this day to be over…" He mumbled around a heavy sigh. Exhaustion and stress toyed with his mind, each one pulling him in the opposite direction. Sadina had his radio and was busy calling someone. He listened to the pattern of her voice…the way it sounded…the rhythm. It was soothing. He let it lull him into a light doze.

Or at least what he thought was a light doze.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in a very small clean looking infirmary on an examination table/hospital bed. The room was small enough to look like it belonged on a ship or in a _really_ cramped hospital. The walls of the clean little bubble had a blue-ish hue to them.

John pulled in a deep breath through his nostrils. The air smelled of disinfectant. He turned his head and saw Sadina lying on a bed in a small alcove next to him. She was sleeping; on the verge of snoring. He smiled. And realized that he felt like he was floating…which meant painkillers. John concentrated on his body and discovered he was only in boxers with a sheet across his bottom half from the waist down. His chest was wrapped tightly against broken ribs, he assumed. His shoulder was numb, upper arm wrapped tightly in a crisp white bandage. He couldn't wiggle the toes on his right foot, either because of a tight bandage or numbing anesthetic. John was pleased to discover he felt no pain. But he did feel like he'd been running for weeks on end without food or water. He was _so_ freakin' tired.

"John?" Teyla stood in the hatch-like doorway that reminded him of a submarine. John grinned.

"Hey." He said weakly. She smiled and walked to his side.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Like I've been drugged up. Which, in my state, is wonderful." He answered honestly. "Where are we?"

"We are on a ship which is taking us to the Daedalus." She explained. "We will be there in a few hours."

"Good." He felt relieved. "What about the refugees?"

"They have been well received by the town and several have chosen to come with us so we can take them to a stargate."

"That's great…How did Carter take it?"

Teyla winced. "She was not..."

"Happy?"

"Yes. But she was glad to hear that you were alive."

"Well, that's good."

"Yes, and after the initial shock of the news, she was quite willing to provide aid to the refugees." Teyla smiled. John yawned. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Rest, I will wake you when we arrive."

John nodded, already closing his eyes.

"It's about time you woke up." Sadina's voice reached into his sleepy mind. He frowned.

"I was _just_ about to be the opposite of awake." He groused. "Besides, I woke up before you. I win." He pried his eyes open to look at her. She was smiling at him, lying on her side and propped up on one elbow.

"Are you ok? Dr. Tam was working on you for a while."

"I'm fine." He said automatically. The smile on her face dropped and she arched an eyebrow.

"How are you really?"

"You know, I really do hate that question. I'll _be_ fine. Happy?"

"For now." She said with a coy grin. "So what's Atlantis like? I overheard them talking about us going there."

"It's a city. Much smaller then your city. Not much else to say. What are you going to do now? Go back to Brillez?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "I don't think I can bring myself to go back to that city."

"What about your family?"

"Yeah…there's that." She shrugged again. "I honestly don't know. How can I live in a city whose government stockpiles humans for the wraith?"

John was silent for a few seconds. "I'm sorry. That I dragged you into this."

"Don't be. It was my choice, not yours... Why _did_ you come to me? To begin with." She asked.

"I don't even remember leaving the prison so…I honestly don't know." He began to fidget. This was _not_ his favorite topic for conversation. Sadina suddenly sighed.

"I can't believe this is all over."

John smiled. "Yeah, this happens to me all the time."

"How do you adjust again?"

"I don't know…It just kinda…happens."

More silence as Sadina mentally digested what he said. Truth be told, he really didn't know how he got over something like this. He never really thought about it. John supposed that it happened sometime during his physical recovery.

He stared at the ceiling. How _did_ he get over these things? Surely not without things like friendship …and divine assistance.

"How long has it been since we've had this long of a talk?" Sadina suddenly asked flippantly; breaking the silence. Now it was John's turn to shrug; a lopsided one shoulder shrug.

"It's…nice." He said awkwardly; only speaking because _something_ needed to be said. More silence; stretching out comfortably. John's eyelids started to droop again.

"What happened to Admare?" Sadina asked, her voice taking on an icy tone. John felt his muscles stiffen at the name.

"I don't know. Maybe he died in the explosion… I really don't care." John found himself snapping but he didn't apologize, Sadina would understand. He had washed his hands of this whole business with Admare and had _no_ desire to make sure the man was dead.

"I guess I don't really care either." Sadina finally said.

"Fantastic." John mumbled sarcastically. "Can I sleep now? I really just want to be passed out for about a week."

Sadina smiled and reached a hand across the two feet separating them. John stretched out his own arm and grasped the hand.

"Sleep. I'll be here when you wake up." She promised. "And I'll wake you if you get a bad dream."

John couldn't help but smirk. "Thanks."

A feeling of warmth blossomed in his belly and seemed to expand to the rest of his weary body.

Safe.

John closed his eyes.

* * *

**Fin.**


	34. COMING SOON!

**A/N:**

Ok, here's the deal; this here is a preview of my next story thats stewing in me brain pan. A teaser if you will. Ya'll, know how much I love my teasers! The thing is, this story won't be ready for several months at best. So, that said, if anyone is board stiff and wants to write a story but doesn't want to fully commit to one, i'm offering to co-write a story using the vague idea that i done got in my head already. If anyone wants to, lemme know via PM. If not, then here's the preview for the Dark (Coming not so soon!)

**Dark**

Breathe in.

Through the gag, through the blood.

Push the air out again.

Don't flinch.

_Silence._

Breathe in.

Through the gag, through the blood and broken bone.

Push the air out again.

Don't flinch.

_Silence._

Breathe in.

Don't stop.

Through the gag, through the blood and bone fragments.

Don't stop.

Push the air out again.

Don't flinch.

_DON'T. STOP._


End file.
